Salvage My Memories
by ninajunkie
Summary: Something has happened that caused Hermione's memory to be altered, to forget a certain person. With their attempts to regain her memory will she end up falling for him? And what are Blaise and Ginny up to?
1. Start of a New Game

**DISCLAIMER:  
****As much as it pains me to say this, no single part of the Harry Potter series belongs to me. Every single character belongs to JK Rowling.**

**As much as I absolutely love Draco and Hermione, this is my first attempt to write a story on them. So if you like this, please review and pass on the word to anyone else you know. Thanks a bunch.

* * *

****October 21, 2005**

**Chapter 1  
****Start of a New Game**

"Hermione? Wake up Hermione." She could faintly hear the familiar voice of someone she knew, even though they were practically shouting.

"What is it? I'm trying to take a nap." She replied rubbing her eyes, still not taking into focus the face of who she was having the absolute pleasure of talking to.

"Hermione, how could you possibly forget? We have the last prefect meeting of the year before the Leaving Feast tonight. If you don't hurry we're going to be late." _Dang it how could I possibly forget?_ Hermione thought while her eyes finally opened so she could take a good look at who was talking to her. But she didn't need to look, of course it was Ginny, the other Gryffindor prefect.

_How could I forget? Of course I wanted to forget... Just being around him more than what was needed makes me want to throw up. I swear more strange looks and comments from him and I'll throw another good punch to his "perfect" face._

"Thank Merlin you woke me up Ginny." Hermione replied while giving a thankful look to the fiery red head in front of her. "I can't possibly miss the last meeting if I still want hopes of becoming Head Girl next year. How many more minutes do we have until it starts?"

"Dumbledore will probably start in about ten more minutes. Hurry, before we are late." Ginny grabbed the hand of the girl sitting on the couch in the common room, and pulled her up and ran through the opening of the dormitories while someone was walking in.

Hermione didn't even have to take a second look to realize that it was Harry who had made it in perfect timing to open the portrait hole for them.

"Hey you two, where are you off to in such a hurry?" Harry practically shouted as they zoomed right past him.

"Sorry Harry, but we have to go to a prefect meeting. We'll see you at dinner tonight!" The red-head shouted back towards him loud enough so he could hear.

After about five minutes of their speed walking, they finally reached the hall that led to the room where they were to have the long-awaited for meeting. As they got closer, Hermione noticed that there was a group of students waiting in front of the door.

She started to think, _Of course, Dumbledore must be waiting until everyone got there. And we still have a few minutes until the meeting is to officially start. I wonder if Ginny and I are the last ones to arrive._

"We are here Professor Dumbledore. Are there any others we are to be waiting on?" Hermione looked at their Headmaster with a smile that anyone could tell she was faking.

"My dear Hermione, we still are to be waiting for Mr. Malfoy. I'm sure he should be here very shortly." She cringed at the mention of his name. "He certainly knows the consequences of not showing up." And with those last words Malfoy walked up so coolly as if he was showing up twenty minutes early. _The nerve of him! I hope he doesn't get the Head Boy position; he obviously doesn't deserve the glory of being in charge._

"Well, well Hermione. Finally coming around to your senses?" Blaise Zabini said while slowly walking up to her. She just now realized that she had been staring at Malfoy with hatred and failed to notice that Zabini was right next to him. While looking around she noticed they were the last two in the hall. "About time you realized that you want me."

"Don't make me puke all over you Zabini. I wouldn't even dare look at you with pleasure. And never has a good thought of you come crawling into my mind." She said with pure disgust in her voice. She turned around with a flip of her hair and walked into the classroom and took a seat next to Ginny.

"Let me guess, Zabini after you again?" Ginny whispered into Hermione's ears before the headmaster walked up to the front of the students.

"Who else would it be? I'll tell you about it later." Hermione whispered back with a sense of rush.

"Good afternoon students." Dumbledore started. "Of course you have all realized that today is the day. The final day before you all leave for the summer vacations. I just wanted to point out a few things. The announcement of next years Head Boy and Head Girl will come by owl with your Hogwarts Letters. Only the two who are to be selected will know. I wish luck to those of you who wish for the position. Next year prefects will of course be the same, unless those who are this year do not wish to continue. Any there questions so far about Head positions or prefect positions?" He gave a look towards Hermione with a glisten in his eyes while he slowly said his last sentence.

"How nice is the Head's bathroom? Is it cozy enough to stay for hours? How big is it really?" Zabini blurted out quickly before anyone else had a chance to ask a decent question. _What an idiotic question. Surely he isn't thinking of becoming Head Boy. And even if he did, why would he want to spend so much time in the bathroom? As in Ron's own words, "what a git"._

"Mr. Zabini, surely I do not know seeing as how I have never entered them. When I was Head Boy here at Hogwarts, we shared the same baths with all the other students. But I digress, onto my next point of our discussion. Next year's arrangements set for Head Boy and Girl will be different than the past due to the fact we would like to try something new. I wish I could give more information on this account, but I cannot." Dumbledore replied with an expression that Hermione had never seen on him before. _What is Professor Dumbledore up to? I hope it's not too terrible, seeing as how I have a big shot to be Head Girl. _Hermione thought with a bit more than her usual confidence.

As somebody asked the next question, Hermione could feel a pair of eyes giving her a good long stare. She feared to turn around to see who those eyes belonged to, but just couldn't resist. Surely enough it was Blaise Zabini. _Will he ever give it up? I don't like him like that, and I never will. Zabini is just too stupid to realize it and he just thinks that I'm playing hard to get. _She thought as she let out a long sigh and realized that this game he played would never end.

"If there are no further questions, let us move onto the next topic. For those with the privilege of coming back to Hogwarts next term, there will be a great surprise in store for you all. I also am quite disappointed that I cannot give any details, due to the fact that the Head Boy and Girl are to be planning it. As always, the prefects will help in any way necessary to get the job done. So a slight warning to those of you wishing to be Heads, you will have quite a heavy load on your shoulders." This time Hermione noticed the headmaster giving a subtle but worried look towards Lisa Turpin, also a sixth year but in the Ravenclaw House. "So if you are still up to the challenge I welcome you to give it a try. There may be a bit of work, but also a lot of attention and slight glory. Any last questions about this certain topic?"

No one seemed to want to ask, but they all had eager faces on and shuffled in their seats in hopes for next year.

"You are all dismissed to get ready for the Leaving Feast. Make sure you leave nothing behind, and have a wonderful feast." Dumbledore shifted to the side and with quick long strides he was out of the door before any of the students got out of their seats.

"Wow, you have a lot in store for you next year Hermione." Ginny said with an ecstatic tone in her voice. "Can you believe how great it's going to be to be able to plan a huge event like that?"

"Now Ginny, who says I will be Head Girl? Everyone has the same chances as I do. But it sure does sound fun." She replied while thinking back to the face Dumbledore had made when mentioning new accommodations for the Heads next year. It was almost a sneaky looking face, as if he knew we were in for a surprise.

Nevertheless, she and Ginny took a slower walk back to the Gryffindor Tower. They could hear the sound of someone walking towards them from the left. When Hermione realized who it was, she began to walk a lot faster. But she couldn't avoid this one. He was coming from the direction they needed to walk in.

"Good luck with this one Hermione. Tell me everything when you get back to the common room." The red head said while sneaking away.

"Oh, no you don't Ginny Weasley. How dare you leave me here?" She shouted back. But it was all too late. Here he came, only 10 feet away from her.

"It's nice to see I finally caught up to you, beautiful." Zabini dared to say with a sultry kind of voice.

"Now, now my dear Zabini, how many times do I have to tell you? Of course I am beautiful, but you have my deepest permission to call me gorgeous." Hermione replied with a huge dose of sarcasm. She slowly inched closer to him, and grabbed him by the shirt and got straight up into his face. "If you ever make any comments like that to me again, I will put a dent in your body where it doesn't need one."

"Feisty. I like it." He said with a growl. Hermione couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Are you finally giving into my amazingly cute attempts to make you kiss me? Will you kiss me?"

_He is never going to give up on me is he? It is just too funny sometimes. I need to realize that I'm never going to get rid of him as long as we both stay at Hogwarts._

"You know sweetheart, if for some reason you don't get the position of being Head Girl, you can always come into the Head's bathroom with me."

"Is that what was flowing through your empty brain when you asked Dumbledore about the bathroom? _Me_ spending time in there with_ you_?"

"Of course darling. Who else would I want to be in there with me? Only you"

"Only in your dreams Zabini, will I ever get into a bathroom with you. As much as I hate the thought of you dreaming about me, I have to go. The Leaving Feast starts in half an hour and I need to finish putting all my stuff away. Like my panties and bras…" Hermione flirtatiously slid a hand across Blaise's chest while she walked away from the scene. She couldn't help but smile at the look he had on his face before she left. She was going to start playing his game a little. Seriously, how can he play a game when before this he was the only one playing it?


	2. Just a Kiss

**DISCLAIMER: **The magical and amazing world of Harry Potter and co. is not listed on my resume, but on JK Rowling's. I don't take credit for any of it. Just the plot  
**dReaMingOfMagIc, thornyrose, laurenmm80, Raven09**: Thank you all for your comments. I hope you all keep reading.  
**purebloodOrDie: **yes there is a reason why Blaise does like her, and I hope my explanation in this chapter is enough to satisfy your comment…  
**spaarkle:** I'm certainly glad I got someone hooked on this fanfic. I hope to hear more comments from you.  
**Darkbabe:** I know Hermione has changed quite a bit, but the answer to that question will come soon enough. If you can hold the suspense ;)

* * *

**October 24, 2005**

**Chapter 2  
Just a Kiss**

Hermione practically bolted through the portrait whole and jumped into the empty space right next to her red-headed friend. Ginny was sitting in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room that sparkled even when it wasn't lit. Hermione's face was just begging for Ginny to ask her what had happened.

"By the looks of it, something amazing just happened." Ginny gave into Hermione's pleading gestures.

"Precisely. I've decided to join in on the fun. It's just too amusing watching him beg like that."

"He's _still_ bugging you about that kiss you are never going to give him?"

"Actually Ginny, I think I might just give it to him."

"WHAT? Are you barking mad? You actually want to kiss Zabini?" Ginny gave a shudder, but not because it was cold.

"I don't necessarily want to… I just think I'm going to play his game for a while. While he begs for my tender lips, I'm going to play a little hard to get. Just tease him a bit. Then maybe if he's worked hard enough for it, I might just give in."

"But what will you get out of it?"

"Just the simple pleasure of knowing that I can torture him" She put an evil sort of grin on lips.

"Hermione Granger. You _have_ gone mad. But this is brilliant, and you have to tell me your plans. How exactly are you planning on doing this?"

"I don't really know. I'm still trying to get over the shock that I just flirted with Zabini. Can we just discuss it through at dinner? We're probably going to be late to for the feast if we don't hurry and finish getting our things together."

"There's the always preparing Hermione Granger I know." Then comes the rolling of the eyes. "Come on, let's get upstairs then."

They both walked up the stairs, with their arms linked, that led to the girls' dormitories and they split up and took their own paths to their own rooms.

* * *

Dumbledore had made all of the necessary comments at the beginning of the feast. It was no surprise that Gryffindor won the House Cup. There was a loud buzzing roaming through the Great Hall as everyone was chatting away the end to another year… Were those laughs and smiles on the faces of Slytherins? No... It couldn't be.

The long stretch of table that the Gryffindors sat at was filled with a wide variety of plenty of food. There were about 30 whole chickens set out in even intervals across the table. There were plenty of bowls with mashed potatoes, plates filled with treacle tarts, pumpkin pasties, ginger newts, Yorkshire pudding, and Shepard's pie. Everyone was busy carrying on conversations and filling up on the amazing food before the summer started.

"So are you ever going to tell me how you're going to manipulate Blaise?" Ginny pleaded with a look of very much interest.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm going to manipulate him. Just torture him. To start off, I'm thinking about leading him out into the Entrance Hall by leaving early. Of course his instinct is going to be to follow me out. Then I think I'm going to play with his dear emotions a little. After that, I have no idea, but we can easily come up with something."

"What do you mean '**we**'? I'm certainly not going to take any part in this. I just find it brilliant."

"I just thought that maybe my dear and precious friend could help me out. But I guess with my amazingly big brain, I can think of something sinister enough to deal with Zabini."

"You sure are going to mess about with his mind. You know Hermione, I envy you right now. What has happened to you? You were never like this before."

Hermione just shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I really don't know. I guess I just got a bit too confident over the years.

The two girls started into a conversation with Ron, Harry, Lavender, Neville, Parvati and a few other people. Hermione then came to the conclusion that maybe she should make her move, and head back out of the Great Hall.

"Guys, I think I'm going to head up to the tower one last time before we leave. Just to make sure I haven't forgotten about any books." She said this while winking her eye just so Ginny could see.

She got up from where she was sitting and turned towards the door. As soon as she was about five feet from opening them, her eyes were set on watching Blaise get up and head towards her direction._ Yes my plan is working so far._ She thought to herself as she let the doors slip from her grasp and took her position on the wall adjacent to the entrance.

"Hey there Zabini. Decided to follow me once again?" Before she had been leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face, but was now getting up from that position and slowly started to walk towards where he was standing.

"Hello beautiful. I will follow you anywhere you wish to get that kiss from you."

"Well today just might be your lucky day."

"Really?" He actually looked shocked.

"Maybe." She slowly walked closer and closer to him until his back hit the wall. "Why do you look so scared Zabini? I thought you've been longing for this?"

"Yea I want this, but you're so… different. You've always been resisting, and now you're pouring yourself all over me."

"Fine then Zabini, if you don't want to kiss me now, I guess I will just leave then." She gave him a small mischievous grin before she turned around and started to head towards the stairs. Before a single thought could make its way into her mind, a hand had grabbed her by the wrist.

"Wait a minute. I never said I didn't want that kiss from you anymore. I just simply wanted to know why you're suddenly playing hard to get, and I daresay, flirtatious. This side of you seems to have taken over the innocent and quiet side. And this has happened quite suddenly too." A very curious look seemed to make home on his face.

"Well, if you must know, I have changed." She replied matter-of-factly. "And since you seemed to be bothered with the way I'm acting, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure. Ask away." Hermione could sense the bit of fear in his voice. Was there a question that he wasn't looking forward to hearing?

"Why all of the sudden do you have this interest in me? I mean you are a Slytherin and a pureblood. Why go after a muggle-born?" And then she saw the face that Hermione could tell that she indeed had asked the wrong question.

"Too tell you the truth..." He said with a tone in his voice that she took to know as seriousness. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask that."

"And why don't you want me to ask this certain question?"

"That's because I'm scared to give you the answer."

"What do we have here? A Slytherin scared to talk? Even one scared at all. My, my; we do have a problem here…" She stated with a bit of a mocking air to her voice. "I'm a big girl Zabini. I can handle the truth. And I hope that's what I get from you."

"Fine then, I'll answer, truthfully. But as if you haven't notice, you have changed Granger and a lot too. I no longer just see you as "Bookworm Granger", but as a woman, a hot woman. Certain parts of you that I would have never thought about before, kind of just, I don't know… popped up on you. And your hair isn't a giant fuzz ball anymore, it looks very nice, and sexy." A silent pause fell in right here. "Please don't tell me that you haven't noticed all the looks you get from everyone during meals. I would be surprised to know that even a single one of those Gryffindor boys hasn't gotten a steamy thought about you."

"Really?" her face looked at though it would permanently be stricken with a look of surprise.

"Yes Granger. And it may seem strange to you that I'm going after you like this, but it's just that I pursue myself to go after everything I want, and what I want right now is you." He answered her question more seductively than she has ever heard before.

"Let me guess. You just want a good snog and a wonderful shag before we leave? Am I right? You have no intentions of having a relationship…"

"Exactly. Now do I get that kiss or not?" he inched closer to her body until Hermione's back hit the wall and he put his left hand up against the wall to hold him up, and his right hand against her waist. He gently moved his face closer to hers, closing the empty and useless space between them. His lips finally met hers and just gave her a quick peck. "So, do I get a snog to go along with that kiss, or do we just leave it at that?"

"How about you just be quiet…" Hermione gave into her temptations. He was just being too seductive. She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in. His face still had a look of shock, but he quickly got over it as he pulled her in closer. If anyone were to see them at this point, one would think that they were suffocating due to the lack of space in between them. Blaise's left hand left the wall and softly took its place upon Hermione's now blushing cheek.

Their lips had finally parted and he moved his pair towards her right ear. "Now that we've had a bit of a snog session, how about we take it further?"

She grabbed his face, but so that she could look him in the eyes. "Now, now Zambini. Shame on you. I can't possible lose my virginity on the same day that I received my first kiss…"

"Th-that was your fir-first kiss?" A look of shock had quickly taken over.


	3. Train Rides and Boys

Thanks for all of your reviews. You have no idea how much it means that you all like this story. Please continue reading and review with some criticism.

**spaarkle**: I'm very glad that you like this story. The cliff-hangers are what keep you guys coming back. And I appreciate how interested you are.

* * *

**October 25, 2005**

**Chapter 3  
****Train Rides and Boys**

"Th-that was your fir-first kiss?" A look of shock had quickly taken over.

"So you think of me as some sort of slut? I don't just go out and snog every guy I think looks cute."

"But, you never kissed Krum? I thought you two had a little thing going on in fourth year."

"Well, we had our share of a few pecks, but we never snogged. We never had a real thing going on. Wait a minute! Why am I even telling you any of this?" She finally realized he was somehow having a tantalizing control over her just by the way he looked into her eyes. It was a sweet look, but it pleaded with innocence. Of course he didn't have any innocence; he was a Slytherin for Merlin's sake.

"Do you realize that you just had your first snog session with me? That must mean I have something that Krum doesn't." His chest seemed to be sticking out more than usual, maybe with pride. "And as to why you're telling me all this… It's because no one can resist Blaise Zabini. I'm very convincing…"

"You know, that didn't make a whole lot of sense, but I think I understand what you were trying to say. Creepy."

Finally escaping him she crawled under the hold that he had on her and walked towards the doors, putting her hands on the handles. Right before the doors were to open from her firm grip, she looked back towards Blaise who was still standing there. "Just don't tell anyone about this. I don't want everyone to think that any guy can get a kiss from me." She gave him one quick wink and disappeared through the entrance to the Great Hall.

* * *

Hermione was sitting in a compartment aboard the train along with Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, Lavender, and Luna. How they were all crammed into there, no one knew exactly. Harry was sitting across from Hermione, but with his back against the wall of the train and into a deep conversation with Ginny. Next to Hermione, sat Neville and Luna who were both looking intently at The Quibbler and agreeing upon something. That can't be good. Next to Luna sat Lavender who was talking with Ron who sat across from her, right next to Ginny. Hermione took one glimpse towards the two, and noticed their hungry gazes that begged for them to have a snog session.

A weird urge came across her to throw up. She couldn't stand it anymore, and slid the compartment door and left. She quickly wandered to the bathroom at the front of their section on the train. That feeling started crawling through her throat while she banged against the bathroom door.

"Can you please hurry; I think I'm going to throw up!" She tried not too open her mouth too much, in case her stomach decided to dispose of her dinner right then and there.

Just as she finished her sentence, the door slid open and she ran straight in and let herself go in to the toilet. Feeling disgusted, she turned to the sink and turned the cold water on. She rinsed her mouth out to get the appalling taste out, and then splashed some water on her face. Feeling a lot better, she turned around to walk back out.

"Feeling out of it, Granger?" She was preoccupied with her stomach that she didn't notice that who was in there before, never left.

"What do you want Zabini? And yes, I'm not feeling too good." She couldn't help but feel disgusted with herself again, knowing that someone had watched her throw up.

"Well, let's seeing. I was trying to have a peaceful visit to the loo, and suddenly someone is banging on the door. I opened it up, and you Granger, threw up. Just wanted to make sure you were okay." The last sentence was said with some real concern.

"Does it matter to you if I'm feeling okay or not? Since when does a Slytherin care about a stupid Gryffindor?" _Why does he care? Harry and Ron didn't even notice me leaving, why should Blaise care if I'm throwing up?_

"I didn't know it was a felon to care. If you want me to leave, I will. Sorry about bothering you."

A feeling of guilt now crawled into her body. "Blaise, I didn't mean it like that. I just thought that you didn't care at all, just wanted me for your pleasures."

"Well a shag would be nice, but I still have feelings too Hermione, and I'm not that cruel to just leave you feeling sick by yourself. Was it something you ate?"

She knew very well what it was. Sickness hadn't plagued her yet, the feast was amazing, and there was nothing wrong with the food. And nervousness would have nothing to do with it seeing as how they just left school. If was because she was lonely. Harry was obviously obsessed with Ginny, Ron with Lavender, and Neville seemed to have taken a liking to Luna. But who was supposed to be there to comfort Hermione?

"No, the food was fine. And you know perfectly well that wizarding food can't make you sick. Only if you eat too much of it like Ron and Harry." A soft chuckle escaped her lips. _Why is he doing this to me? I'm not supposed to laugh right now._

"Yea, I've noticed their pigging-out habits. And from what I can see, you're not sick. So would you like to have someone to talk to, and perhaps tell me what's wrong?" _He's actually offering to talk with me, a real conversation. What is he up to?_

"Well I guess a talk would be nice."

"Okay, well let's go into here." He had grabbed a hold of her hand and led her into the prefects' compartment. Since it was the last day, they were all visiting with their friends, so there had been no one in there. He sat her down on the cushioned seats, slid the door closed and sat down next to her.

"So what's bothering you?"

"How could you possibly tell that there is something bothering me?" She was getting worried. _Could he possibly be reading my mind?_ "you can't read my thoughts, can you?"

"Ha Ha, Hermione, that's very funny. No, I can't read minds, but by looking into your eyes, I could see a look of worry come into them. What worries could you possibly be going through your mind right now? You should be happy that we're about to start 7th year."

"Yea, I'm excited to be heading into your last year, but it's just… Oh what's the use? You'll never understand."

"Well, I highly doubt that the mighty Blaise Zabini can't help you out, but if I can't, it would be nice to let it all out. Don't just push it to the side; it will make the situation worse."

"Alright, you got me. It's just that I couldn't help but feel a bit lonely. I'm sitting there in my compartment with 6 other people who all have their girlfriends or boyfriends, and I couldn't help but feel like that. Then I saw Ron and Lavender start looking at each with so much lust, that it just made me sick to my stomach. So I ran out of there, but no one seemed to notice that I even left." Teardrops started to form in her eyes, and one gently slid down her cheek.

"Wow, that's quite an emotion. But to tell you the truth, lavender is quite the little freak. I remember shagging her quite a few times this past year. She's just bringing that out in Ron. And for being lonely, don't feel that way. I'm sure you'll find someone soon, and if not, one day you'll find your true soul mate."

"I guess you're right. But I kind of feel left out when I'm with them. I'll just have to push that aside and be happy for them, right? Maybe romance will spring up for me on our last year."

"Now that's the attitude you should have. I also highly doubt that your friends have forgotten about you. They're probably worried or looking for you."

Just then someone knocked on the compartment door. "Hermione are you in there? Open up!"

Hermione's eyes widened as if shocked. "That was a major coincidence." She got up and unlocked the door and slid it open to see none other than Ginny.

"Hermione, I've been worried sick about you. I saw you leave and I thought you might have just gone to the loo, but you didn't come back. Everyone is worrying, but I volunteered to come and look. Are you alright?" Ginny had peeked in over Hermione's shoulders to see Zabini sitting there. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?" She whispered so that he couldn't hear.

"No Ginny, we were just talking I promise. I went to the bathroom and Zabini came up and we started a little chat. Just go back to the compartment. Tell everyone I'm fine and that I'll be there in a second." She flashed a stern look at Ginny as if saying not to tell the others she was with him.

"Alright, as long as you're sure you're fine. I'll see you soon, then?" She gave a look of concern towards Hermione.

"Yes, I'll be there in a minute." She shut the door as her friend left and sat back down next to Zabini.

"That was strange. Well I guess I've just been overreacting. I know they care about me. Thank you for talking to me Zabini, I really appreciate it."

They both got up at the same time. "Anytime, Granger. If you need anything, I'm always available for talking, or maybe more…" he gave a small smirk "just remember that."

"Thanks for the offer, and I'll be sure to take you up on it." She got on her tip-toes and gave him a small kiss on the lips. She turned around and left the compartment, and walked back to the one she was in before.

To her surprise, Ginny was standing out in front of the door instead with everyone else. _Maybe she wants to find out if I'm still torturing Zabini. But I guess I'm not. He's actually a sweet guy._

"It looked like you and Zabini were getting comfortable in there. Care to tell me what happened?"

"Ginny, you know me better than that. We were seriously just talking. No snogging involved. I swear to Merlin."

"So you've quit on trying to torture him?"

"I guess I have. We did snog earlier today during dinner, when I left. But just now, we had a decent conversation, and he's really not that bad, Ginny. He's actually, dare I say nice."

"Well, I guess the confident Hermione has finally left?"

"Yes. It was just a momentary thing. I was just looking for some attention, I guess."

"Attention? What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know Ginny, maybe I'm sick and tired of being the only one without having someone to constantly talk to. You have Harry, and don't deny it, because I notice the way you two look at each other. And Ron seems to be somehow still infatuated with Lavender, and I don't now if you've noticed, but guys don't usually look at me in that sort of manner."

"Hermione, I had no idea you felt this way… Well if you're going to go after a Slytherin, you might as well take Draco. He's so hot." Ginny bit her lips just thinking about him.

"Ginny! What about Harry?"

"What _about_ Harry? He's not my boyfriend. I can still look at other guys, and let me tell you, Draco is not bad to look at."

"Alright. Let's just get back into the compartment. We're wasting away our train ride."


	4. Magic Revealed

**Ca803 – **Thank you and here is more for you.  
**Nautjah – **I'm very honored to know that this is one of your favorites. I hope it continues to stay that way, and continue reading.  
**dReaMingOfMagIc – **It's okay that you missed a chapter. Just don't do it again! JUST KIDDING. I really appreciate your comments.  
**Michelle – **I do agree, I don't like the idea of Hermione/Blaise either, but Ginny/Blaise, that's another story there. ;D

**IMPORTANT** I also wanted to point out that this is NOT a Hermione/Blaise story. It is indeed a Draco/Hermione, but that will happen later, Blaise is just useful to her. Now, on to the story...

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October 26, 2005

**Chapter 4  
****Magic Revealed**

After the long and last train ride of the school year pulled up into the station at platform 9 and ¾, students came pouring out from the doors. One of the last people to leave the train was Hermione along with her group of friends. All seven of them gathered around in a group and bid their farewells before departing on their own journeys for the summer.

Harry was to be going along with Ron and Ginny to the Burrow. He was to be staying with them for now since the wizarding world was now safe from the Dark Lord. Even though he was of age and old enough to get a place of his own, he always loved the comfort of being around a loving family. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley agreed to have him to stay. _'Your company is always welcomed here whenever you need a place to go.' _Those were the exact words from the Weasley couple.

After they all had their share of hugs, Harry spoke, "Just remember guys… Make the most of your time off. This is the last real summer vacation we have before we step out into the real Wizarding world. Have fun." Hermione ran up to him and gave him an earth shattering hug so hard that she heard his back pop.

"Sorry Harry. I didn't mean to." She looked ever so sorry and gave him a tiny puppy face as if she was pleading for his forgiveness.

"Hermione, it's okay. Just have a great summer, okay? And don't forget to send us a few owls to see let us know you are okay. And if you ever get lonely, just remember you can always apparate to us, now that we are allowed to by law."

"Of course, I could never forget to write to my best friends. And if I can, I'll stop by and visit you three" She directed this not only to Harry but also Ron and Ginny.

With those words said, they all finally headed in their own directions. Hermione didn't even bother to look into the crowd for her parents. They had already said that they had an important dentist conference to attend to that day. She walked right through the invisible border that led to King's Cross and pushed the trolley towards a cab. After getting all her luggage in, she told the driver where she was headed, and they took off.

During the whole journey to her house, she couldn't help but get that lonely feeling again. _My parents would rather go to some stupid meeting than come see me at the train station. Oh well, maybe I have the right to feel lonely. _

The cab took a left and Hermione realized that this was the street that led to her house, her final destination. With the help of the cab driver, all her luggage was carried to the front door. She gave him the money she owed for the ride, plus a generous tip. She went up the two steps that led to the front door, and turned around so that she was facing the front lawn alongside the street. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, she looked around the streets, trying to find a site of real life out there. She couldn't help but notice the number of cars parked along the streets, and realizing something was wrong. _The neighbors are just probably having some sort of party. _She thought.

Turning back towards the door, she decided to reach into one of her bags to get the house key, not feeling up to doing magic at the moment. She stuck the key in, twisted the knob and flung the door open. What she saw inside her house gave her the biggest shock ever.

"SURPRISE!"

There were so many people inside her house, and they were all there for her; greeting her back home. She stood there with her mouth open and thought _I'm glad I didn't use any magic to get in…_ Her parents rushed to her with open arms and gave her a huge hug and she was smothered in kisses from people.

"Mom, Dad, what's going on here? Why the surprise?" She was still shocked from what was going on.

"Well dear, seeing as how this is your last summer before you depart onto your last year of school, we thought we would have a little celebration." Her mother replied with a tone that suggested that what was happening should have been obvious.

"Thanks Mom. Thanks Dad. Can you help me get my stuff upstairs? Then we can continue with the party."

* * *

After a hard time of lugging her things upstairs and putting on some proper clothing, she went back down to mingle with the guests; the visitors that had come just for her. Of course her parents were there, but also her Aunt Sophie and husband Uncle Jon along with her cousins Samantha, Damien, and Susan. Samantha was a lot older than Hermione at 22, but she always looked up to her like a big sister. Damien was her age, 17, but would turn 18 in August. And Susan was only 8 years old and always attached herself to Hermione. One could basically infer that Hermione was her role model.

Not only did she have family there, but also a few people from the neighborhood that she was more or less close to. She didn't have any muggle friends, seeing as how she never had any before entering the wizarding world. So she had always been close to her cousins whenever she did get to see them.

The party was great and Hermione was having a blast. They danced to music, had good food to eat, and all her worries were washed away for a few hours. When the party started to diminish and the guests left, she went outside to the deck in her backyard to get some fresh air. The sky was beautiful that night. Not a single cloud could be seen and the moon was full and had an orange tint to it that was just miraculous. She stood at the edge of the deck and leaned against the railing and just stayed there looking up and staring at the stars. Then her feelings of loneliness started rushing in. _Sometimes I just wish that I could be under the stars with a special someone and not have a care in the world. Maybe someone to hold me and actually care about me…_

Just then she heard the back door slide open and someone walk out. She didn't even bother to see who it was, but knew who it might as well be. Damien. He was indeed a very handsome young man. His hair was a shade light than Hermione's but what a bit long like Harry's. His eyes were an extraordinary bright blue that would have people mesmerized in them for hours. He was taller than her standing at about six feet and had some pretty strong muscles. Even as strong as he was, his muscles didn't pop out, but he was well defined. And the one thing that would always make her melt when she saw him was that he had his lip pierced. It's just something about the bad boy image.

Other than Harry and Ron, Damien was the only one she could talk to and be real friends with. The only thing she never told him was about her secret. Her deepest and darkest, well not really, secret that she has been dying to tell him. He was so trustworthy and she knew it would be a shock to him at first, but she could trust him with her life.

She took one more glimpse into the sky before turning around, and closed her eyes, as if wishing deeply for something. Just as she turned around, a shooting start swept through the sky, but she never caught a glimpse of it.

"Hey there, Hermione, are you doing alright?" Damien asked with the sweetest smile.

"Yeah, Damien. I've just been thinking. Apparently I've been doing a lot of that lately." She gave him a weak smile in return.

"Well here, let's sit down and have a nice talk. I haven't seen you since last summer, so we need to catch up." He pulled out a chair from underneath the white lawn table they had, and motioned for her to sit in it. "So how was school this year?" He asked while he pulled out a chair for himself.

"It was great. Everyone is still doing great and I've been doing my best to keep all my grades up so I can be the top in the class. Same as every year."

"Yeah and same old study hard Hermione. So are you getting along with the girls there? Not trying to do anything to you, are they?"

"No need to worry Damien, they are all really nice, and yea I get along with everyone a lot more now." She didn't sound too convincing.

"Hermione, you know me better than that, and I can tell that something is bothering you. Do you want to talk about it, or do you just need some more time to think things over?" Worrying was definitely one thing that Damien was doing at this moment.

"No, I've been doing too much thinking lately that I think my head just might burst from it all. But I could do with some friendly talk."

"Good, I'm here for you if you need anything Hermione." He took his hand and rubbed it against her right arm, in a friendly warm manner.

_Now where have I heard that one before? _She couldn't help but think that this was all too familiar. _Of course, Blaise said the same thing. Maybe people really do care about me._

"Okay, well how about we go up to my room, it's getting chilly out here. You and your family are staying here right?"

"Yea, we're going to be staying the week, then after that we're back home. Dad has some major business trip to go on."

"Awesome, maybe we can wander around town and find some good places to hang out at. Maybe take a trip down to London. Either way, let's go back inside. We can talk up in my room." She pushed her chair back under the table and led Damien upstairs, and into her bedroom. She shut the door while he plopped on top of her bed. She walked over and sat next to him.

After about 5 minutes of silence, Damien finally broke the awkward silence. "So would you care to share what has been bugging you?"

"Well, since it is you that I'm talking to here, yea I'll share. It's just that lately I couldn't help but feel a bit lonely. All of my really good friends at school are all paired up and have boyfriends or girlfriends and I don't really have anyone. So I've just been down about it these past few days." She a bit of a gloomy look on, but Damien faced looked a bit surprised when she mentioned this.

"Wait, just wait one minute. I thought that you have been going to an all girls' school. How is it that all your friends are paired up?"

_Oh shit! I have been so preoccupied with my problems; I forgot that I told them all that I have been attending an all girls' school. How am I going to get myself out of this one? Maybe I should tell him once and for all…_

She could tell that he was started to get really confused, waiting for an answer.

"Okay, Damien I'm going to tell you some things right now, but I need to know that I can trust you, and you must promise not to tell anyone. Not a single living soul, you got that?" She point a stern finger almost about to poke his chest.

He gave a little chuckle. "Geez Hermione, what's the worst of it? Are you girls all sneaking boys into the dorms?" She gave him a hard stare, waiting for him to promise. "Alright, Hermione, I promise, you can trust me. You know that."

"Good. To start off things, I don't go to an all girls' school. There are boys there too."

"This is your big secret? I don't ca…"

She stopped him from continuing. "Don't interrupt me! But like I was saying… I go to a school with both guys and girls. But it's not a regular school; it's a special school… For people who aren't 'normal'. Oh man, I really don't know if I should be telling you this."

"Come on Hermione, you can trust me. I trust you with my life and I would never tell anyone. I promised. And I still promise. I'm your cousin, if you can't trust me then who can you trust?"

"Okay. Well I go to a school for…" _I can't believe I'm telling him this, but I need something to talk to about everything. _"for Wizardry."

There was a deep silence for about a minute, and Damien just stared at her.

"This must be a joke. Come on Hermione. You can trust me, tell me the truth." He just couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Damien, I'm being deadly serious. I go to this school called Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I go there every year from September until June. I can do magic." He just kept staring at her as if what she was saying just had to be a lie.

"Do your parents know?"

"Of course they know. They have to pay for it. Do you even really believe me?"

"I still think this must be some kind of prank. A late Halloween joke perhaps?"

"Damien!" She slapped his arm, but not too hard; Just hard enough to knock some sense into him. "This is not a prank!"

"Okay, if what you're saying is true then prove it to me. Do some sort of magic trick. Pull a bunny out of a hat. I want to see that."

"Damien, it's not magic like a magician does. They are all fakes. This magic can make anything happen. It's amazing. Here, let me show you my wand." She went to her chest that stood on the foot of her bed, opened it, and took out her wand. "See. This is it. This is what I use to do all my magic."

"Okay, then do something. Anything, just so I can really believe this."

"Fine then. See that book on my desk there, the red one? I'm going to make it float in the air. Just watch it." She took a hold of her wand and did the swish and flick movements and said "_Wingardium Leviosa_". Just like before, her magic never failed her and the book rose about 2 feet off of the desk. After it levitated there for about five seconds, it slowly landed back on the surface of her desk.

"Wow Hermione! That was absolutely amazing!" She went back to sit on her bed and Damien just kept looking at her as if she was his hero. "You really weren't lying. You can do magic!" He was practically screaming it.

"Shh. Don't yell it out loud. I don't want my mom to know that I just told you."

"Sorry. But you should have told me earlier Hermione. Why didn't you tell me before? I mean this is where you have been going for six years, right?" He was still shocked at this.

"Yea, ever since I was eleven. But I just couldn't tell you. I was scared that you would see me as a freak, and you wouldn't be close to me anymore. You and Susan, and maybe Samantha a little, were the only friends that I had before I left to go to Hogwarts. I didn't want to lose you guys."

"Hermione… I would have never thought differently of you." He was serious, and being very supportive of her. "But of course I would have thought it to be amazing to have a cousin who can do just about anything. Show me something else."

"Okay, this one you might find pretty cool." She got up from her bed and went to go flip the light switch off by the door.

"Okay, why does it need to be dark in here?" Damien sounded just a bit scared.

"Hold on Damien, I'll show you." She slowly crept back to the bed and sat back down. "_Lumos"_ After she said the spell the tip of her wand lit up.

"Wow, it's almost like a flashlight, but better. You can see everything around us. This is bloody awesome Hermione."

"_Nox._" Then the light went back out. She went back to the light switch and turned the lights back on.

"Hermione, this is way too cool to be true. But don't get me wrong, I totally believe you now. Besides it being cool, we have something else to talk about."

"Well, when I go back for my last year, you can always write me letters, but you can't mail them. See, in the magical world we use owls to deliver our mail."

"Owls? You use owls to deliver your mail? That's pretty weird."

"No, they are really smart and brilliant creatures. You just tell them who you want it to go to and where, and they'll take it. It's quite amazing."

"But how am I going to get my hands on an owl to send you a letter? And if you send me one first, my parents might freak out if one came flying in and handed me a letter. Unless… you told them too. Susan would be so excited!"

"No Damien, I cant' tell anyone else. It's already not a good idea that I told you. But I can talk to my parents and tell them about everything and how you know. They always send letters and gifts back from home, so you can send them what you want to send me, and then they can owl it to me."

"Why can't I just get an owl of my own? It would be much easier."

"Aunt and Uncle would be sure to notice an owl flying about in their house. Besides, muggles aren't accustomed to seeing owls fly around the day time."

"Muggles? What's that?

"That's what the wizarding world calls the non-magic folk. Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you by it."

"It's alright. I completely understand." She leaned over and gave Damien a kiss on the cheek. "What was that for?"

"Just to show how much I appreciate all of this, you being able to understand how I feel and not judging me. It's good to know that I can count on someone."

"Like I've said before Hermione, I'm here to help any time you need it." He flashed her a huge smile and it just made her laugh. "Well I should be getting to the guest room, I'm a bit tired. And tomorrow, you have to show me some more magic."

"Goodnight Damien."

"Goodnight Hermione"

She lay in her bed with a huge feeling of pride, knowing that she now has two more people that care about her; Blaise and Damien. She slowly fell asleep to good dreams and a great summer.


	5. Out In the Open

This chapter is going to be a bit boring, but I had to put in it to explain some things and add others that are important to the story. So read and let me know what you think about this chapter.

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**October 30, 2005**

**Chapter 5  
****Out In the Open**

Hermione woke up early the next day to a wonderful aroma of a delicious breakfast. She quickly jumped out of her bed, straightened the sheets and quickly got ready. She put on some baggy sweatpants and some old t-shirt from her old days in Primary school. The smell of coffee and bacon started to make its way to her nose and she couldn't take it anymore, so she ran down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Good morning Mum." She said to her mother with a smile on.

"Good morning Hermione. You look happy this morning. Is there anything that you would like to tell me?"

She would have to tell her mother sometime soon if she wanted Damien to be able to send her some owls during the school year. Since they were the only two in the kitchen she decided to tell her.

"Mum, I told Damien." She was a bit hesitant to say it, but finally let it slip through her lips.

"Told Damien what, dear?" her mother was a bit confused as to what her daughter was talking about. She turned the stove off and turned to Hermione in order to understand better.

"About my special gift… You know about me going to Hogwarts." She said this as if it was so obvious.

"Why would you do that Hermione? It could put you in danger. You know better than that." Her mom sounded very concerned.

"You have to understand it from my point of view Mum. Damien is the only Muggle that I'm really close to. I trust him with my life and I love him like I brother. I knew that if I were to tell him he wouldn't judge me and still like me the way I am, not for what I can do. He's not like Harry's family. He understands how much it means to me and he supports me. And I was just hoping that maybe you could understand that…"

"Honey, I'm sorry. I completely understand and Im really glad that you found someone that you can talk to. Come here and give me a hug."

They embraced right there in the middle of the kitchen for a few minutes before her dad walked in.

"Good morning dears. What's going on?" Her father said with a cheery smile.

"Well dear, me and Hermione were just talking, and I think that it would be a good idea if we had Damien stay with us for the rest of the summer so he and Hermione can have a good time. What do you think?"

"Mom, are you serious? That is a brilliant idea! What do you say Dad?"

"MY, my Mrs. Granger, that would be a splendid idea! Hermione, why don't you go off and call the other Grangers down for breakfast, and then we can have a chat with your aunt and uncle and see what they say. But first, talk to Damien about it and see if he's okay with the idea. And tell him we would be more than happy to let him stay in the guest room."

Hermione ran straight to her dad and gave him a big hug. "Thanks a million, Dad. This is going to be great!"

Running up the stairs as fast as she could without knocking anything over, she came upon the door to the guest room. KNOCK! KNOCK!

Her Aunt opened the door and welcomed her with a very kind, warm smile. "Good morning Hermione! You look radiant today. What can I help you with?"

"Good morning to you too; Mum and Dad said that breakfast is served. And just let me say that it smells just wonderful."

"I know! I can smell it from here. Well, we are just going to finish getting ready, and we'll be right down dear. Thank you kindly for letting us know."

"Your welcome, by the way, is Damien still in there?"

"Yes he is. And I think that he might be done getting dressed, let me go and get him for you."

After about five minutes of Hermione waiting outside the guests' room door, Damien finally emerged from inside.

"Hey Hermione, my mum said that you were asking for me." He just had the cutest morning smile on and that lip ring made Hermione smile back.

"Yea, I just thought that maybe we could talk. Downstairs though, not up here. It's about you-know-what." She whispered so that the others in the room wouldn't have a chance to hear her.

"Of course I'll talk to you, anything for my favorite cousin." He flashed a really huge smile showing his teeth, a little too wide.

"Damien, you git, I'm you're **only** cousin." She said with a smirk as she led them down the stairs into the common room. They both sat down on a plush green sofa that was set in front of the window.

"Okay, so what is it about your magical powers…" he whispered "…that you wanted to talk about?" Interest was set all over his cure face.

"Well… I told Mum this morning about how you now know about me being a witch. I also told her that you're the only non-wizard that I can talk to about this and that I truly trust you. So she and Dad agreed that it might be a good idea, for the both of us, if you stayed with us this summer…" before she could even finish her last sentence, Damien gave her an even bigger hug than she had given her dad. She finally let out her last words with little breath "…so that we can become even closer."

"Hermione, this is amazing! Now me and you get to spend time together, and not for just a week." Suddenly, his face looked like he was upset about something. "What if Mum and Dad don't let me? Mum's probably going to want me to spend my last summer with her and the family."

"Don't worry Damien, my parents are going to talk to yours during breakfast, and I'm pretty sure they'll work something out. Speaking of breakfast, let's go and get some before it gets cold."

* * *

After breakfast and an hour's worth of conversation, Hermione's aunt and uncle finally agreed to let Damien stay for the summer. They said that at least they would be able to spend time during the school year seeing as how he goes to a public school. They did seem to find is rather peculiar that he would want to stay the summer with a girl, even if she is just his cousin. Hermione's parents seemed to be very convincing without letting them know about her magic abilities.The four adults decided that it would be a good idea to take the kids to the fair that had been in town, but Hermione, Damien, and Samantha wanted to do something a bit more to their standard of fun. So they would be taking a trip down to London. Samantha begged the other two to wait for her while she took a shower. Hesitantly, they agreed and decided to wait for her in the common room. 

Damien finally broke the silence, "Hermione, now that I know all about you secret, can I ask you something about the other day?"

"Of course, you can ask me anything." She was getting curious, and quite a bit scared of he would ask her.

"Okay, well before we went into your room last night and you told me about everything, we were outside and you mentioned that you were a bit… lonely." Before he could continue on, Hermione broke in.

"Yeah, I remember mentioning that, but what you do necessarily want to know about that?"

"You just seemed really upset about it, and I just wanted to see if you still wanted to talk to me about it. I know it's going to keep bothering you and the last thing I want is for your last year to be terrible."

"You are such a sweetheart for caring. Okay, so this is how it goes. My two best friends that I've had since first year are named Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Ron has a younger sister by just one year, named Ginny that I know Harry likes. Personally I think they are dating, but they won't let anyone know. Ron likes this girl named Lavender Brown, and I don't blame him she's so beautiful and is very well shaped. And this other girl named Luna Lovegood whom we became good friends with in fifth year, kind of has this thing going on with our friend name Neville Longbottom. We all hang out together, and it's just us seven. Well there are eight of us, but Parvati Patil doesn't really have any boyfriends. You could say that she is the Gryffindor whore. She likes it that way so she doesn't mind that everyone else is paired up. But me, I get terribly lonely and I can't even get one guy to look at me."

There was a bit of an awkward silence.

"So do you think that you can help me Damien?" She gave him the puppy face, even though she didn't need to.

"It is going to be tough, but if we can convince Samantha to help out it might make it a lot easier on us."

Samantha just then walked down the stairs. "Okay lady and gentleman, where are we going off to on this lovely day?"

Hermione and Damien sat her down and explained to her about their own situation. She jumped up in excitement and agreed right away. They decided it would be a good idea to stay in for awhile and figure out what needed to be done about the situation. So Samantha decided to talk to Damien about it first before consulting Hermione about it. She told Hermione to go and take a shower and wash her hair out so that she could work with it.

"Damien, this is going to be one tough job, but I think we can do it. So what are your ideas?"

"Well first I think that she needs some sort of makeup. I don't want to be a git about this because I really like Hermione, but she just looks so plain without anything to accent her face."

"I agree, but we can't put too much on her. We just need some subtle changes and additions to help her out. And we also need to fix her eyebrows. They are too bushy like her hair, which I'm also going to fix for her. Good thing I brought all of my hair care supplies."

"That's a good start. Samantha, we also need to do something about her clothes. Did you notice what she was going to wear out of the house? Sweatpants and an old shirt are not going to cut it. You're the fashion expert, so what do you suggest she does about her clothes?"

"Well… I guess we can take a trip to the mall after we get done with her face and hair. She's also going to need to buy some of her own stuff if she is going to keep up the changes. So when we go out, we can see what kind of style she needs, but I think we might have to keep it simple. She's very laidback and a think something original would be best."

"Sounds great, but I also think that I'm going to have to work with her on her attitude. She's always upset about this situation, and we need to make her come out of her shell; make her more comfortable with herself and with others. Maybe she can be a bit more flirtatious, which will attract a few guys."

"Wow, Damien you surprise me sometimes. You really are in to helping Hermione out, aren't you? Now I know why she wants you to stay for the summer."

"What are you insinuating by that?"

"Nothing, just saying that you really are a sweetheart, at least that's what Hermione says about you."

Samantha went upstairs to help Hermione with her untamable and frizzy hair. She put this type of condition in that made her hair dry without making it a giant fuzz ball. When her hair finally did dry, it was in the most perfect curls and silky smooth. This was already an amazing improvement and she was starting to look even better. Samantha then continued the transformation by waxing her eyebrows. When all the torture and pain was over with, they looked perfect with the arches that she put them in.

Next was the makeup. Samantha mentioned to her that she had a very nice complexion, whatever that meant. All Samantha did was put on some eyeliner, but not too thick, a hint of blue eye shadow, and a tiny bit of blush to accent her cheeks. She didn't dare let Hermione look in the mirror, but instead called Damien up to come see her.

He didn't even say anything. The expression on his face was just enough to satisfy them. They knew very well that they indeed had done a good job. Now they just needed to go do some shopping.

They came back three hours later with a set of makeup, 6 new pair of fitting jeans, 20-some new shirts, 3 skirts, 5 cute sweatshirts, and some new sneakers and high heels. They weren't too high, just enough to make her more feminine.

"So tell me Samantha, why exactly did you make me spend all my Muggle money on these new clothes and accessories?" _Wait a minute! Did I just say muggle money? OH SHIT!_

"Muggle money? What exactly do you mean by that?" she arched one of her eyebrows and pried an answer out of her.

"Um, nothing in particular, that's just what I call my money. Not a big deal." She was very hesitant and confused, but tried to keep a straight face on.

"Hermione." _Oh damn it, she doesn't believe me._ "I don't' believe you" She was practically yelling. Not something you would expect. "I know all about you being a witch. You need to stop hiding these things from me. Why couldn't you just tell me?"

"How do you possibly know? And I didn't want to tell any of you because I was scared of what you might think. I only told Damien because we are the same age, and I was hoping he wouldn't hate me. Wait, let me guess… Damien told you."

"Actually he didn't. He doesn't even know that I know. I have a younger friend who is a wizard, and I know all the signs. So don't be mad at me."

"Samantha! How long has it been since you've known? And why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Ever since you came back from your first year there, and I didn't want to say anything because I was hoping that you would tell me."

"I'm so sorry Samantha that I didn't tell you. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course I forgive you. Just promise that you won't keep any secrets from me okay?"

"Alright, I promise. Now, answer my other question. Why did I have to buy all of this stuff?"

"Well the clothes that I picked out for you are within your personality range, but still make you look sexy. Those tank tops looked so adorable on you. And you have to remember to put your makeup on everyday, or else it will defeat the purpose of going through all this trouble. I want you to start off by doing it today."

"Why, what's going on today? I thought we were just going to stay in and watch a movie."

"That was our original plan, but now you are going to have the pleasure of taking us out tonight. We are going to put our plan to work, and see if you can get a guy for the night. You don't have to do anything with him, just have to talk to him. So what do you say?"

"Well, I don't really like going out all that much, but I want to know if this works, so yea let's go."

All three of them got ready for their night on the town to 'test' Hermione out. After deciding to head out to a new night club in London, they piled into Hermione's aunt's car and drove to their destination. They walked into a huge room with loads of flashing colored lights and tons of people out dancing. Not being quite in the mood to get out in the middle of the chaos yet, Hermione found an empty table to go sit at while her cousins made their way to the dance floor. Just before she sat down in the chair, she spotted someone vaguely familiar.

"Jumping gargoyles! What are you doing here?"


	6. Nice Talking to You

Sorry about that cliffhanger. But I needed to leave the chapter at that point, because I didn't want to combine it with what was going to happen next, plus I needed a little something interesting.

Well then, go on now and read chapter 6 and found out who she sees at the club…

**Draco – **WAIT! Before they go on, I need to ask… I thought that this was a DMHG story, so where am I? I only made a brief appearance and I didn't…

**Me – **Hey, don't you dare finish that sentence. I promise, you'll be in very soon… Insert evil laugh

* * *

**October 31, 2005**

**Chapter 6  
****Nice Talking to You**

"Jumping gargoyles! What are you doing here?"

"Granger! I could ask you the same thing"

"Well for one thing, I'm a muggle born, remember? I still socialize in this world. But you… you're a Slytherin, a pureblood… What are you doing around muggles?" She was definitely confused with this odd situation.

"Granger, you have to promise that you won't tell anyone that I've been here, or that you even saw me during the summer. I'll hex the life out of you." He was looking a bit worried at this point.

"Look what we have here… a Malfoy that is scared. I thought that you weren't scared of anything, but now I have something to use for blackmail." An evil grin quickly set upon her once confused face.

"I wouldn't be so quick to talk Mudblood." He kept inching closer to her face and his voice lowered. "If you tell anyone about this incident, I'll let the whole school know about what really happened to you last summer" He whispered into her ear that sent shivers down her back.

"How could you possibly know about that? There is no way that you would know unless you were there, and I haven't told anyone. Out of all people to find out, it has to be you?"

"I would tell you how I know, but that would just ruin me, and I'm not ready for my life to get even more negative attention."

"Okay understandable, but would you mind telling me what you are doing here?"

"Um…Well. Don't get me wrong, but I didn't really want to come. Zabini dragged me along. Said his friend was supposed to be here. I don't really care that he's friends with a Muggle, but does he have to be bring me too?"

"Malfoy. Get over yourself" She said while sitting down in a chair and motioning for him to do the same. "I feel really weird saying this, but maybe we can sit and talk for a bit? _What the hell am I talking about? This is Malfoy for crying out loud. He's made fun of me for over six years. Well he did just threaten me._

"Yea, well you don't really know me Granger, so therefore we really can't talk. Plus, I wouldn't give you the satisfaction of knowing anything about me." He said with a terrified look in his eyes, and turned to walk away.

"Are you sure you want to go out there just to be surrounded by even more muggles?" _Why should I even care?_

"Fuck. I hate to say this, but I think you're right Granger." He said without turning around.

"Wow, never thought I'd live to see the day that Draco Malfoy said I was right." She said sarcastically. Draco suddenly turned around and gave her a deathly stare.

"Sorry Malfoy. Listen, I know I'm not that great of a person to be in your company, but maybe a Mudblood is better than a Muggle. Why don't you sit down with me?"

"Sorry Granger, but I don't want to give you the pleasure of knowing that I can socialize with you."

"Okay, well I wish you enough luck so you can find Zabini out there in that crowd."

"Merlin fuck it. Fine I'll sit with you, but don't expect me to have a conversation with you." He sat down in the only other empty seat at the small table, which was across from Hermione.

"So… Malfoy. Have you heard anything about the Heads' new arrangements for next year? I tried to ask McGonangall about it, but she just ignored me. Said that she didn't know what I was talking about."

"No, I didn't even bother to worry about it, because I knew that no one would give in to my charming personality with something that huge." He gave a her a half smile.

_Wow, his little smirk is kind of cute. And he actually looks cute without his hair being slicked back. SHUT UP, this is Malfoy, Ferret Boy! I can't possibly think that he is cute. All this stuff makeup is getting to me._

Draco broke her train of thought. "Is the Mudblood using makeup now?"

_This is a bit on the creepy side. Can he read my mind? Can you hear me Draco? Draco?_

"Yes I am. Why, does it look that bad?"

He gave a little laugh. "No Granger, it actually looks very good." He blushed a little. "And your hair doesn't look like a dead ferret, and the least very nice." He resisted touching it.

"Okay Malfoy, you're scaring me. Why are you being nicer to me than usual? On normal circumstances, you would shout insults from every direction."

"Uh, I couldn't tell you."

"And why not?"

"Because…because…I don't even know myself, okay? That's why." He looked furious.

"Sorry. You don't have to get so defensive about it." She stood up off f the chair and looked straight into his eyes with a look of longing. "But just to let you know, I like you better this way." She turned and went to walk towards the middle of the floor to find Samantha and Damien. But just before she could take a step into the crowd, a hand on her shoulder stopped her from going in.

"Hermione, please don't go."

"Malfoy just let me go." Her head was drooping down and had sadness in her voice. "I had thought that maybe we could start to be civil towards one another and grow up, but obviously you show that it isn't even possible." She turned around to face him. "Do you think that if you, but I'm not saying that you will, become Head Boy people are going to still think of you the same way? The Head Girl isn't going to be patient with you Malfoy. It's going to be a long year, and you better prepare for it, or you might as well fall flat on your precious face."

* * *

Sorry to leave it at that, but this is an early Halloween present to you all. I'm working on the next chapter, so you will all get yet another Halloween present today. Yay, go me, I'm on a roll. 

ca803 – Thank you and keep on reading.

lautjuh – I don't like leaving you all with cliffhangers either, but it keeps you all on your toes. And don't get me wrong, Hermione is beautiful on her own, but I'm not necessarily changing her, but just making her realize that she can be even more if she works just a little on it. That was the point of putting Blaise in at the beginning. He even said she was good looking.

Hoshi-chan1 – thank you very much, I will keep on continuing as long as you all keep on reading

hpobsessor – Thank you for loving this story. That's what I'm hoping people will be thinking of this.

spaarkle – It's okay that you haven't reviewed. I haven't updated for the same reason. Good luck with homework. And sorry again about the cliffhangers.


	7. What's the Worst That Could Happen?

**October 31, 2005**

**Chapter 7  
What's the Worst That Could Happen?**

Hermione went back to her house a little less content then before she left earlier. The confrontation with Malfoy didn't go so well, and for some reason she was upset about it. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about what happened was bugging her.

She couldn't decide whether it was because he had somehow found about her experience last summer, or because she almost got a somewhat civil conversation with the Hogwarts bully. Either way she wasn't about to let it ruin her best summer ever with her favorite cousin.

After the week slowly faded, her family went back home to Paris and Damien was left in her company. A lot of the days they just sat at home and had pleasant conversations while she taught him loads of interesting things about the Wizarding world and Hogwarts.

Other days they went to London to hang out and get acquainted and meet some new people. Hermione was surprised at how the immense amount of attention she was getting just from the little changes she had made. Damien had already been working with her on the little attitude changes that were important for their plan to truly work. She was starting to feel more confident, and break out of her shyness. She could now approach a guy and ask his for his phone number, and every time the guy gave it to her. She was feeling on top of the world and nothing could get her down at this point.

Well, almost nothing…

The morning of the first of August came all too quickly. That morning during breakfast, an owl swooped through the window of the kitchen that Hermione had left open on purpose for the past five days. She was anticipating for this day to come for the longest time. This would be the day that would make or break her last year at Hogwarts.

_Please let me be Head Girl. PLEASE let me be Head Girl_, she was thinking while she slowly lifted the back of the envelope.

"Hermione, just open it already! You're making me nervous!" Damien spat out. Was that sweat dripping down his neck?

"Alright, let me read the letter out loud then." She cleared her voice and began to speak formally.

"Dear Ms. Granger,

We are glad to know that you will be joining us again this year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am also pleased to inform you that you will still be a prefect this upcoming year. The first prefect meeting will take board on the Hogwarts Express at twenty minutes past the departure time. Head Boy and Head Girl will be there to conduct the meeting. I hope that you will have an outstanding year and that you shall do a wonderful job on your N.E.W.Ts. Enclosed with this letter is the list of books that you shall need for your desired schedule.

Signed,  
Professor McGonangall"

Tears were started to pour down her face while Damien went to embrace her.

"Sh, Hermione. It will be alright, and I'm sure that their must be some mistake." He said while rocking her.

She shot up from his arms and gave a terrifying look. "No, Damien, it's not going to be okay. Do you know how hard I've worked for this? For this one defining moment in my life and now this position that I've wanted for 7 years isn't mine! It probably went to that stupid prat Lisa Turpin. Just because she's in Ravenclaw and might have the brains, doesn't mean she's right for the job, you know. I hate this Damien; I just need to be alone right now." She got up from her seat to stand right in front of the boy she had been yelling at. Turning towards his cheek she gave him a friendly kiss and grabbed his shoulders. "Thanks for caring."

She turned to walk out of the kitchen and went up the stairs to get to her bedroom. She plopped right down onto her bed and buried her face within the pillow. Slowly but surely the tears started to pour out again.

This was something that has never happened to her before. Sure she had dealt with rejection in other areas of life, but when it came to academics, she always landed on top and got the highest marks and the highest positions available. This just couldn't be happening to her, this was a new emotion for her. It just wasn't rejection and sadness, but for once in her life she felt pity. Yes pity for her, and pity for not working hard enough. Too many thoughts were flowing through her head that she just couldn't concentrate anymore. Slowly she fell into a deep sleep.

Taking naps in the middle of the day wasn't something that she was used to. When her parents were out at work, she usually ran around the neighborhood which wore her out, but had never made her tired. She was so into her dreamless nap that she didn't notice a dark haired man walk into her room.

He slowly closed the door and crept to the side of her bed that she was laying. The boy took the chair that belonged to her desk and sat it right beside her bed. He sat there for what seemed like thirty minutes until he gently ran his fingers through her hair. Bringing his lips up to her forehead, he gave her a gently kiss on her forehead, and whispered the words "don't fret, all the world will make sense." When he parted with her body, he stood up from the chair and walked to the other side of the bed and lay down next to her. His intentions were pure and just wanted to make her comfortable in her time of need. He somehow managed to put his arm around her without waking her up and then again whispered his last words, "goodnight my angel."

Hermione's eyes slowly parted open to the midday sun that shone through the slits in her blinds. As she was starting to make sense of her surroundings, she felt someone move next to her. This feeling was comforting, but she was surprised as to who would be in her bed. She didn't want to wake the person up, and she felt like home in his arms. So instead she just lay there thinking about that morning's events.

She still couldn't grasp the fact that she would have to go through her last year at Hogwarts and not be given the chance to be Head Girl. This was her dream and her longing wish ever since she found out about her real life. For seven years she worked hard for that position, and now it was shattered into a million pieces like a mirror on a bad hair day. Tears started to fall down her cheeks again, and a soft moan left her lips.

"Hermione, are you awake?" said the voice of the lifeless body next to her. At the sound of this, her body suddenly shot up and she sat on her bed.

"Harry? What are you doing here, and let alone in my bed?" She was quite mystified at who lay there next to her.

"Well good day to you too Hermione, and I came as soon as I found out about what happened this morning. I just wanted to be here so you wouldn't have to go through this alone." His voice was filled with sincerity.

"That's understandable, and I appreciate it a lot Harry, but I'm quite baffled as how you came bout knowing. I just found out a few hours ago, how could you possibly found out that quick?"

"Well, it's simple. Damien, who is quite the nice guy, sent me an owl telling me about it. He was very worried about you, and wanted to make sure that you had your best friend here. You know, he is quite smart for a Muggle. But I have a question for you; why did you tell him about you Hermione? And why didn't you ever let me know that you were letting your secret out?"

"Harry, calm down, I told him the day we left Hogwarts. He is the closest person I have to me that isn't a Wizard and I trust him immensely. I've trusted him my whole life and I figured that he might want to know the truth. At least he deserved to know."

"Alright I believe you Hermione." He smiled back at her and the look in his eyes told her to lie back down and calm herself a little. And that's just what she did.

She got under the covers and Harry followed her in this manner. She laid down, but this time facing him. They just sat there quietly, looking into each others eyes. She knew that this wasn't a romantic moment, or was she not to be looking into the eyes of a future boyfriend. This was a precious moment that she was sharing with someone she thought almost as a brother, but not quite. They were best friends, and were always there for each other, no matter what. They would always share a special bond that no one would truly understand. As a matter of fact, they didn't understand it fully either.

"Harry?"

"Yes Hermione?"

"I love you. I'm glad that we became friends. I don't know what I would ever do without you, Ron, or Ginny in my life."

"I love you too Hermione." He looked into her eyes with deep concern while he played with her hair. "Just know that if you ever need anything, and I mean anything, I'm always here for you. I know that you have many people who say this, but Ron and I will always care for you. You are my best friend. Without you two, I would most likely be dead, and for that I owe my life to the both of you."

She finally had the feeling of acceptance that she had been craving for, and she no longer felt that emptiness inside. But she still couldn't shake the feeling that she needed someone to love her, not as a friend, not as family, but to have true, deep and passionate love.


	8. An Honest Mistake

**November 2, 2005**

**Chapter 8  
****An Honest Mistake**

After parting from their long slumber, Hermione and Harry went back downstairs to a shocked Damien. He could only think of the worse from this situation, but Hermione calmed him down and said that nothing happened. Hermione knew that nothing ever would, and she would never hurt Ginny in that manner, Harry belonged to Ginny; it was an unspoken rule.

All three of them sat around the kitchen having some afternoon tea and just chatting. Damien seemed really interested to hear Harry talk about his life and vice versa. Hermione was ecstatic to know that the people she cared for the most in the world were getting along and she was just gleaming on the inside.

Harry announced that he should be getting back to The Burrow and asked to talk to Hermione in the living room while saying his goodbye to Damien. Harry took his position in front of the fireplace and turned to Hermione to say bye. He told her that he approved of Damien and was glad that she had someone to spend her time with.

The next month went by slowly, but the two teenagers always found something to do. When the time came for Damien's birthday, she baked him a cake to show how much she cared, and he absolutely loved it.

There was only a week and a half left until Hermione was to board the Hogwarts Express and she was sitting at the kitchen table for breakfast while thinking about this and letting it sink in. She was starting to think that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to not be Head Girl, when all of a sudden an owl came through the window and landed on her left shoulder.

_Who would be sending me a letter in the morning like this? I know Harry and Ron can't possibly be awake by now._

She untied the letter from the owl's leg, gave him some water and some bread, and it flew off. Hermione examined the letter intimately and realized that it was from Hogwarts. Her heart started beating a little fasted and she grew tense not knowing what this was about. She had already received her letter from them, so what more could they want? She called Damien to come down so that someone would be there when she read it. He motioned for her to quickly open it, and then she read it aloud.

"Dear Hermione,

I would like to take the time to show you my deepest sorrow. It seems that I have been slipping and have made a terrible mistake. I hope that it is not too late for me to be sending this for I know that the last letter may have caused you some pain. I was making the final preparations for the upcoming school year, and I have realized that I had sent you the wrong letter. You are indeed the Head Girl, and I'm deeply sorry for any torture this may have caused for you.

Do not worry though, I did not send out a Head Girl letter to anyone else. Therefore no other misunderstandings are needed to be taken care of. You are to meet with me and the Head Boy an hour early aboard the Hogwarts Express in the Head's Compartment.

I also want to personally congratulate you on this achievement and all of the hard work and effort you have put in these past six years. I greatly admire your dedication and I know you will contribute a lot to the school this year. I hope that you can accept an old bat's apology.

Professor McGonagall"

All she could do was sit there and stare at the letter in shock. A tear fell from her eye and slid down her cheek.

Damien broke the silence, "Hermione this is a good thing, why are you crying?"

"Because I'm happy! I actually did make Head Girl, but McGonagall sent me the wrong letter." She jumped out of her seat and started at Damien. "I did it all along! I can't believe this! I have to tell Harry, I have to go to The Burrow."

Damien just sat there, upset that she couldn't rejoice with him.

"Damien, you're coming with me. I want you to meet all of my friends. They're going to love you." She stared at him with her undeniable smile, and he finally agreed.

Without any notice, Hermione used floo powder to get them both to Ron's house. The Weasley family and Harry were all shocked to see her there, but were happy that she came. Without any hesitation she told them the news and how McGonagall made a mistake. With that being said, they all congratulated her and took turns giving her hugs. It was her lucky day because Fred and George just happened to be there and they gave her the biggest and paramount sandwich hug of them all.

Mrs. Weasley convinced everyone that she would make a grand lunch in honor of Hermione. She blushed but gladly accepted. Her day could not get any better, or so she thought. Damien was getting along with everyone, more than she thought he would. All through lunch they talked of many subjects but mainly of their last year at Hogwarts. Fred and George also mentioned that they were doing quite fine in the joke shop business.

With everything said and done, they all agreed to meet up in Diagon Alley three days before they were to leave, at around one in the afternoon. Without Hermione mentioning anything, they all told Damien to come along. She was beyond excited that they could all get along.

* * *

Throughout the next few days, Damien helped Hermione gather her things and put them into her trunk for school. She also made a list of the few extra things that she would need to get while a Diagon Alley. She wanted to buy some new robes, to start the year out fresh.

The day finally came and all five of them met in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and not a single person was late. Damien seemed to be enjoying his visit more than any of the others and was excited to take a taste of a blueberry and raspberry bubble gum flavored ice cream sundae.

They all made their round though the streets and when someone needed to go into a store, they all went in. All the books that were needed were purchased; all potion ingredients were gathered; all robes were either fixed or new ones wore bought; and all other necessities were collected.

To end their day in a good note, they decided to drop in on Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes for a good laugh. The twins weren't joking when they said that business was booming better than ever, the store was filled with younger kids that they could barely squeeze in through the door. They all ended up leaving with some free stuff that the twins practically begged for them to take. Damien fell in love with one of the self-inking quills, which Fred said he could go ahead and have one. Hermione decided to buy a fake wand for her younger cousin Susan, but put a spell on it so it wouldn't shoot out fake spells.

They all left very content with what they all accomplished that day. With all of their things in order, every single witch or wizard was prepared for their departure to Hogwarts.

* * *

Sorry, I know that was a really short chapter, but I promise that they get longer and the story gets better. Someone also informed me that we're not allowed to give individual thanks on our stories. So if you would love to leave you're e-mail addresses, I would be more than happy to write you back. 

I also want to thank all of my reviewers for giving me feedback. And finally! Someone pointed out something wrong with my stories. I do realize that my conversations are pretty much pointless, but I don't want to just write out paragraphs in this story, it needs some dialogue, and frankly, I have no idea what to put. But if anyone wants to be my personal beta, I would love one! How about you **hpobsessor**? You seem very enthusiastic.

I **promise**, another chapter coming today!


	9. Back Home

I'm terribly sorry for not posting this yesterday. It is an important chapter to me, and I felt like it needed to be ready. So if you would all like to welcome my new beta, HPobsessor, give her a round of applause because she's a sweet heart and offered to help me out. **

* * *

**

**November 3, 2005**

**Chapter 9  
****Back Home**

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Hermione's alarm went off at exactly seven that morning. She wanted to make sure that she would be prepared for this day, because this would be the last train ride that would take her to the place she loved the most.

While slamming the off button and groaning, she pulled the covers off from on top of her face, and crawled out of bed. Unwillingly, she made her way to her bathroom and turned the hot water on for her shower, and got undressed. Grabbing her face wash off of the counter, she then hopped in to enjoy the warm water.

The soothing feeling of the warm water running down her back finally woke her up. She washed her hair with the new shampoo that Samantha recommended, and it smelled like she had just stepped into a rainforest. Following her shampoo and conditioner routine, she lathered some vanilla scented body wash into her bright green loofah and cleansed her body with it. After rinsing the soap suds off, she washed her face with the face scrub she grabbed earlier. She then washed the conditioner that was still in her hair and it felt silkier than ever, she loved that feeling.

Turning off the shower, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her naked form, and stepped out of the shower, and went to go stand in front of the vanity. Taking another towel from on top of the counter, she went to work on drying her hair; doing it the Muggle way made it feel softer than using a drying spell. After realizing that it was dry enough, she took her wand and muttered a spell to turn her natural curls into perfect waves. No more bushy, frizzy, pestering curls for Hermione.

She then stepped back into her room and managed to empty out her closet onto her bed while hunting for the perfect outfit to wear. She wanted to make all guys want her and all the girls envy her… Well at least a few of them. Her mind finally set on the jean skirt that Samantha forced her into getting. It had an antique look on it with a faded gold/brown color and was frayed on the bottom. To match with it, she grabbed a brown tank top with inch thick straps that accented the skirt. She walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the full length mirror.

Turning around to look at her back side, she approved of the outfit. The shirt didn't reach the top of her skirt and it showed some skin in between the two items of clothing.

Looking back into the mirror once more, she smiled and said, "Vintage, yet totally scandalous at the same time... I love it!" She then went back into her room and with a flick of her wand, all her clothes went straight back into her closet, all nice and neat.

After she made sure that her room was spotless she took a look at the alarm clock beside her bed and noticed that it was now ten minutes past eight. She had already taken seventy minutes to get this far and her makeup still needed to be done and the finishing touches on her hair could _not_ be done by themselves.

Slipping back into the bathroom, she opened her new makeup case and took out only what she needed. She applied a thin layer of powder to make her face glow and put a tiny amount of blush on her cheeks. She put the two items back in the bag and took the eyeliner off the counter and put a thin line of it under her eye. Then she put on a little bit of mascara and some gold powdered eye shadow to compliment her outfit. After putting the makeup all back in the bag, she took a quick look in the mirror before deciding she looked gorgeous. Beforehand, she wanted to put something in her hair, but now she realized it looked perfect the way it was.

She walked back into her bedroom and made sure that she wasn't forgetting anything. A few seconds after she put _Hogwarts: A History _into her trunk, a knock was heard from her door and Damien's head peaked in.

"Good morning Hermione!" he glowed as he walked fully into her room. Hermione bid him a good morning back while she walked towards him. "It's almost 8:30 and your father says that we should leave around 9:15 to make sure that you are there before 10:00."

"Okay, thank you Damien. I'll be down for breakfast soon but you can go ahead."

"Alright, just ask if you need anything." He mentioned as he walked out of her room and shut the door behind him.

She turned to search her room once more, just to be safe, and when she realized nothing was missing she locked the trunk. She then scooped her robes and hung them on her right arm and proceeded to leave her room while dragging her heavy trunk. Stopping at the top of the staircase, she realized she couldn't carry that heavy load down.

"Damien!" She yelled to boy in the kitchen from the top of the stairs. "Can you please help me bring my stuff downstairs?" She asked coyly as he walked to the top where she was.

"I thought that you were of legal age to use magic outside of school?" He asked confused at the witch in front of him.

"Why would I use my magic when I have a strong and handsome guy to do it for me?" She replied in a flirtatious manner not wanting to admit he was right. He couldn't possibly resist that look, so he agreed to do it for her. She planted a kiss on his left cheek before returning to her room.

A minute of standing in her room made her realize that she indeed was missing something. She called for her cat, and just then Crookshanks leapt into her arms. A smile that crept on her face meant that she was ready to leave.

She went into the kitchen and sat at the table. All that she could get herself to eat were some strawberries. She was just too anxious to eat anything and was scared that she might have another incident like on the ride from Hogwarts. Plus, she just wasn't hungry.

Her dad put her stuff in the boot of the car, and all three of them were off to the train station. Hermione and her dad said their goodbyes in front of platform 9 ¾ due to the fact that he didn't want to cross through the barrier. Damien and Hermione both went through and he helped her put her trunk in the Heads' Compartment and they went back out to the platform.

She gave her cousin the biggest hug she could conjure without using magic and they bid their goodbyes. Tears started flowing freely from her eyes, but Damien comforted her and said they would see each other again soon. He promised that he would owl her whenever he got the chance. He dried her tears and they embraced once more after he dried her tears. "Don't worry Hermione, we will see each other again, all in good time." To Hermione, he left all too quickly.

Hermione climbed aboard the train and walked the path to her compartment for the meeting she was supposed to have with the professor and the new Head Boy. _I wonder who it is. _She thought as she slid the door open. No one was there yet, so she closed the door behind her and took a seat.

This compartment was a lot bigger than the normal ones she was used to sitting in. It was even better than the prefects' compartment, after all it was the Head's compartment. This one was twice as big, with there being a row to sit on along both sides of the walls. There was nothing on the blank wall where the window should have been. She thought that this was very strange.

Just then walked in none other than the person she had no intention of seeing, Draco Malfoy.

They exchanged evil glares at one another just before Professor McGonagall walked in. She jumped right to the point.

"Before we start with the rules, I just want to congratulate you both on making Head Boy and Girl and for having the highest grades of your year." Both students could tell that she was nervous, and the fact that the two rivaling houses would be working together for the next year was not making her anxiety any better. Hesitantly she continued, "Now onto the rules; only for you two will curfew be lifted. You two will also make the patrol schedule and one boy and one girl must always be present nobody may go alone. You two will always make your rounds together. You may also take away any points necessary, you may also give away detentions where you see fit. For any special events that will be taking place this year, you are to work together to make the plans and have the prefects help you with anything you need. Since the war is finally over, we are giving you both the privilege of going to Hogsmeade whenever you feel the need to. The forbidden forest is still off limits, but any place in the castle is open for you two. The Headmaster will give you both a list with all the passwords that will magically change if any password is to be replaced. Any questions so far?"

"Actually Professor, I have one," Draco mentioned. "What are the new arrangements that the Headmaster has set for us, for this year? He mentioned something at the meeting last year?"

"That my dear, is something that he will have to talk to you about. After the feast this evening, both of you will be sent to his office to talk to him. Are there any other questions?" No one said anything. "The prefects will have a meeting at 11:10. You are both to head down to their compartment and share with them this list of rules and notes." She handed Hermione a copy of this list and handed another to Draco. "There shouldn't be any problems during the meeting. If there happens to be anything wrong, make sure to contact us before the feast. If there is nothing else, I shall be going." There was a pause waiting for someone to say something. When neither of the other said anything, the professor continued. "One last thing, after we leave here, you both are to go out onto the platform and make sure that everyone gets settled in, okay."

All three left and they both patrolled the area without saying a word to each other. They both knew that they would rather have it that way, but it was in some way awkward.

At about 15 minutes until the train left, Harry, Ron, and Ginny showed up. All three greeted Hermione and she greeted the three back. She needed to keep on doing her duties, so she told them that she would see them later on the train whether they liked it or not.

The conductor told everyone to get on board and that he was leaving in two minutes. Families all said their last goodbyes as the train finally pulled away. There was much excitement all over the compartments and Hermione had to calm a few people down. It was now time for the prefects' meeting and she headed down in the direction of the compartment and opened the door.

To her surprise Neville was in there. He was the other Gryffindor prefect that took over Hermione's spot. He deserved this position, and his confidence had finally taken form, and he could take care of himself.

Draco said the first words of the meeting and the both of them flew through the list and thankfully no one had any questions. When they were all dismissed, Ginny told Hermione to go with her to the compartment that all the others were in. She declined the offer but told her that she would go there later on.

She slid the door to her compartment and found to her surprise that Draco was already in there laying down across one of the seats. She was also glad that there was enough space in there that she didn't have to be so near him.

"Why aren't you with your friends Granger?" Malfoy asked without lifting his head up from its resting position.

"Why do you even care? Last time I tried talking to you, I got shot down. So would you mind not talking to me?" She snapped, without looking at him.

"I just have on question to ask you. Why were you trying to be nice to me at that club? I've been torturing you for the past six years, and you could just put that all behind you?"

"Well for one, I had a weird feeling that we would both end up being Heads, so I thought we could get a head start on being comfortable with each other. And to answer you other question; Yes, I would put that all behind me."

"But why?"

"Draco, the war is over. We have nothing left to take sides on. Why can't we just all grow up and put our differences behind us? Apparently your best friend Blaise has, he's been hitting on me since last year."

"Yeah, I heard you two snogged at the Leaving Feast. He mentioned that you were a really good kisser." Hermione's cheeked blushed when he said this. "So now that I've broken your barrier, will you tell me why you don't want to be with Potty and the Weasels?"

"I don't know if I'm comfortable telling you that?" She lowered her head so that he wouldn't be able to see the pain in her eyes.

"Granger, if we are ever going to get past all the shit we've been through, this is the perfect time to start at it. Even if I am a Malfoy, you can still trust me. I'm nothing like my father ever was."

"Like your father _was_? I'm confused." And her faced show it too, and both of their eyes finally locked.

"Just answer my question, and I'll answer yours."

"Fine, I just don't want to be around them because all they are going to be doing is snogging, and I don't have anyone to join in the fun with. Alright are you satisfied now?"

"Who all is snogging? I didn't know Potter could snog someone."

"Well Harry is with Ginny; Ron and Lavender are both crazy over each other; and Luna Lovegood and Neville have something going on. Now that I have answered _two _of your questions, answer mine. What happened to your father?"

"You're bound to find out anyway. He ended up committing suicide after the Dark Lord was destroyed." He didn't show one ounce of remorse in his deep gray eyes.

"Oh gods, I'm sorry Malfoy. That must be terrible."

"No, don't show pity for me. I'm glad that the bastard is finally gone. Living with him was torture…" he trailed off, and Hermione understood well enough why.

"Draco, I understand that you don't want to talk about it, but if you ever want to, I am a good listener."

"Did you just call me Draco?"

"Yea I guess I did. That's the second step towards being civil to one another."

"Okay… Hermione."

Some sort of spark ignited at that very moment, and they could both feel it. Sure, it was going to be a long year, but somehow they both knew it wouldn't be that bad.

* * *

The train finally reached the station at Hogsmeade and they were all sent off to the castle. The feast started off with a blast and Gryffindor obtained six new members to their house. The Headmaster introduced the new Heads and gave the notices at the end of the feast, a he always did. All the students were sent off to their Houses for the night while Draco and Hermione went off to the Headmaster's office.

They both took their seats in front of his desk and they could feel his piercing eyes stare at them through his half-moon spectacles. He didn't take any time for small talk.

"Now that the war is finally over, we are going to start the year off with a bang and promote House unity more than ever. You two are going to be sharing a common room and your own personal kitchen. You will have your own bedrooms, but they are only accessible through the common room. You will also share a bathroom but it is very spacious indeed. Are there any questions about this arrangement?"

The two just looked at each other with questionable expressions, but neither had anything to ask about it.

"Good. Now for my next surprise; Hermione, I have heard that you have been dancing since the age of three and that you are quite good at this."

Hermione was definitely confused at this statement. She didn't know what this would have to do with anything.

"Yes sir. I still do dance but I wouldn't go so far as to say that I am any good at it."

"My dear Hermione, no need to be shy about it. I was hoping that this year we could have some sort of a dance contest, and that you would be in charge of it. All you would have to do is be in charge of going through the auditions and choose the couples you see are fit enough to participate. There is only one thing that is required of you."

"And what may that be sir?" She was even more surprised than she has ever been in her life.

"I would like for you to also compete in the competition, with Draco."

"What! I can't possibly do that. It's going to be hard enough getting up in front of the whole school and dance, but to do it with Draco? I can't do that sir."

Draco finally opened his mouth to talk. "And just what exactly is that supposed to mean? I'm not a terrible dancer; I can dance quite well actually." He turned to the Headmaster. "Sir, we will do it. If not only to prove to her that I can dance, but to finally prove myself to the whole school."

Hermione bowed her down in shame that she would have to actually do this. "Okay Headmaster, we will do it, but who will be judging the competition if we are participating?"

"That of course, would be Madam Hooch and me. She volunteered when we presented this matter at the teacher's meeting."

"Sounds good to me Sir." Draco spat out before Hermione could say anything. "Now are there any other matters that you would like to speak with us about."

"Yes, I would also like for you both to plan a ball. Just like the Yule ball, but I wanted it to be for Halloween. Let both of your minds come together and be creative with it and have fun doing this. It shouldn't put any stress on you, so take all the time you would like. I would like for the ball to take place on the night of October 30th, the day before Halloween. Does this sound okay to the both of you?"

"Yes, that sounds like fun. Thank you for this opportunity and we will get started as soon as possible."

"That sounds like the Hermione I know. Since we have so many events to plan for, I have decided that the first week of classes is to be delayed. I will announce this tomorrow morning at breakfast and I would like you two to take this time off to start planning. And if there are no more questions, I will take you both to your common room."

There was a silence, so Dumbledore took this as a sign to lead them out of his office. They walked up to the fifth floor and took a right hand turn, which led them to a large painting that touched the floor and went up five feet over their heads. The painting was of the most beautiful scenery with mountains in the distance and a small sort of farm or ranch in the front with a farmer and his horse standing next to a fence.

Professor Dumbledore told them that they would need to tell the farmer their desired password after he left and that they could change it whenever they felt like it. He also said that the list of passwords would be on the small table in front of the fireplace, ready for them to use. He told them both goodbye and left in the direction they had come from.

After about a five minute discussion, they decided that their password would be "challenge". They set the password and the portrait swung open and they stepped inside at the same time. When they noticed what their surroundings were, they just stood there with both of their mouths open.

Hermione finally spoke up. "I guess this is going to be home."

"You bet it is."

* * *

So there it is. I was a very long chapter, but it didn't take me long at all to write it because I had it all planned out in my head. I hope you all like it, and give me some feedback on it. I would love to know what I am doing wrong so that I can fix it so that they will be more enjoyable for you all.

BETA (HPobsessor): Hey guys, this story is practically amazing, I'm so glad I was offered the chance to beta-read it. I will do my best to help Marina (justamuggle) get everything perfect, and if I miss anything, be sure to point it out so I can make it better for next time... Dominique (HPobsessor & HPobsessor2).

It's me Marina again, everyone who read through that whole chapter gets a cookie anyway you want it. Whether it be a chocolate chip one, macadamia nut, peanut butter, oatmeal and raisin, sugar cookie, or snicker doodle. And if you review you can have two. Look at me go, I'm spitting some rhymes out now!


	10. Memory Fix

**Chapter 10  
Memory Fix**

Draco and Hermione kept on standing close to the entrance, but their feet didn't dare move. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't due to the shock they were still in. After they lingered in their spots for a few minutes, the both of them finally managed to slowly walk around the room touching everything they saw.

If they were to turn around and face the entrance, they would notice that it was lined with a thick gold border that almost looked like a long string of rope. The walls were made of stone just like the rest of the castle, but in their living area, the stone had a certain glimmer to it, as if billions of the world's tiniest diamonds were melted into it. Hermione slowly glided her hand across the surface and her body was instantly covered in goose bumps from the cold touch of the smooth wall.

To the right of the entrance was the kitchen. Set into the wall was a long stretch of counter about seven feet long with the most beautiful granite top with a few cabinets and drawers underneath. As you walk alongside the counters, there is a refrigerator exactly at the end of the counter and it was a dark black. Along the adjacent wall was a gold sink with a gold faucet that accented the gold, silver and black countertops. To the left of the sink were some more cabinets, but they were taller than the counters were. In the middle of the kitchen lay a table that was rectangular in shape and would fit two people on two of the sides, and only one on each of the other sides. The table was made out of the most brilliant black steel as also were the chairs. On the seats of the chairs were beige colored cushions.

Hermione pulled out one of the chairs and sat on it with her arms on top of the table. She felt quite comfortable sitting there. Draco came over to the kitchen area and also pulled out a seat and sat down. He gave a quick look towards Hermione.

"I could quickly get used to this." He said with a smile that she had never seen before on his lips.

She returned his comment with a nod and a genuine smile and got up to finish exploring the rest of their palace. She walked towards the entrance and took notice of the gold trimming. As she kept on walking, she reached the common room. There were a total of four sofas, but only three were facing towards the fireplace. In the middle of the three resting spots was a low riding coffee table. To the right of this area was a huge rug made of the most comfortable shag carpeting. And behind the sofa that faced the fireplace, was another sofa.

Along the flanking walls were desks to study on. One was against the wall that the entrance was on, and the other along the wall where she guessed the bedrooms were on the other side of.

In the middle of the room were two stairwells that Hermione assumed would lead to the bedrooms and the bathroom. She climbed the stairs on the left while she counted sixteen steps in all. Once she reached the top, she noticed that both of the stairwells were connected with a little walkway. She walked across it and stood in front of the door that would lead to the room. There was a gold plaque on the door that was at a position level to her eyes. She gently grazed her fingers over the letters that were engraved in it. It read "Hermione Jane Granger" and under her name it said "Head Girl". She smiled at this and one single tear was streaming down her cheek which was turning slightly red.

This was what she dreamt about for six long years, and now her name finally stood where it belonged. She had worked so hard for this position and all she could do was cry. These tears weren't of any kind of sadness, but they were because she was in high spirits.

Her legs were locked in place while she stood in front of her room staring at the plaque in shear amazement. She had been a trance for so long, that when a hand was placed on her shoulder she jumped. She was now facing Draco who surprisingly looked worried.

"Are you okay Hermione? You've been standing there for a good ten minutes."

"Yes Draco, I'm fine. It's just that it's so overwhelming knowing that I finally made it this far. Don't you feel like you're on top of the world? I've wanted this for so long, but I never thought it would really happen."

"It's not that big of a deal. Look at what we've gotten ourselves into! We have to organize tons of things; the Halloween dance, the dance competition, and even patrolling duties. There's going to be much more to it, that's something we can count on it."

"Draco, Draco. You knew it was going to be a lot of work. This is something we should take seriously; everyone is looking up to us. The whole school knows us and we are to set examples around the castle to the other students. That doesn't give you a sense of pride?"

All he could do was shrug his shoulders. Hermione had no idea what was going on with this boy in front of her. It was as if he had gone under a total one-eighty transformation. And did he call her by her first name without any hesitation? This was definitely weird. Hermione made a mental note to have a conversation with him about it later.

Their gazes finally broke and she turned around and rested her hand on the doorknob. She was uncertain if she wanted to go in at that moment. Draco, who was still behind her, ushered her to go on and open the door. The second the door flung open, they both let out a faint gasp.

The room was absolutely gorgeous. On the right was the biggest bed that Hermione had ever laid eyes on. The sheets were all a deep red satin while the comforter was a deep gold and made of velvet. She ran towards the bed and landed with a plop. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and knew that sleeping would never be a problem. Waving her arms and legs about she made a 'snow' angel on top sheets knowing that she wouldn't leave an impression; but it felt like heaven.

Without getting up she opened her eyes and noticed a face in front of her with blonde hair.

"Having fun?" He said while arching his left eyebrow and giving his trademark smirk.

Hermione was just speechless and she couldn't even nod her head. She just kept staring into his compelling eyes. _What am I doing? This is Malfoy…_

"Actually I am." She said with a know-it-all attitude as she lifted herself up from the bed.

"What happened to taking this seriously?" he asked smirking

"You should talk." She said and they both laughed.

"I guess you're right." And she let out another laugh.

While still sitting on the edge she turned her head around to get a better look at the room. In between the door to her room and the gigantic bed stood a small little end table with a drawer. There was a lion's head for the knob. She got up off of the bed and went to the dresser that stood at the end of the bed and noticed all the knobs were the same.

In the two farthest corners of the room were two sofas that were angled against where the walls met. The one on the right was a red that matched her bed with two gold pillows. The other was just the opposite with gold cloth and two deep red pillows. Along the wall in between the two sofas stood a mirror that seemed to be about five feet wide and six feet tall. She could see herself perfectly in it. She quickly gave her hair a quick fix up before turning to the door on her left.

She turned the knob and found herself in the bathroom. It was perfect. To her right stood an enormous bathtub that could fit three people in it at once. It was a pearly white with silver faucets and knobs. There were also some nozzles that she assumed to be the same from the prefect's bathroom where different kinds of bubbles, and shower gels would come out.

In the opposite corner of the tub was a stand in shower with a door that slid to the right. The glass on it was beautiful, but foggy in case there were any unwanted visitors, all they would be able to see would be her body outline. _Thank Merlin for that_ she thought as she turned around. In front of her was a counter that stretched from one wall to the other. The counter top was also made of granite but a mix of white, black, red and green. Set into the top were two sinks, both with silver faucets and knobs that matched the ones in the bathtub.

She knocked on the door that was parallel to the one that led into her room. It opened with Draco holding onto the doorknob. His eyes widened when he looked in. He wandered around and tried to touch every inch of the surface that he could. He motioned for Hermione to follow him into his room.

It was exactly as Hermione's but everything that was red in her room was green in here, and everything that was gold would be silver in here. There was something different about his room thought, and it wasn't the colors. It seemed to be a bit darker in here than in her room. Maybe she was just tired. She noticed that it was already a quarter until midnight. They had both spent more than an hour and a half wandering around the inside of their new living arrangements.

"I'm going to get some sleep, I will see you tomorrow Draco." With a wave and a note of goodnight to Draco, Hermione strutted back into her own room with a stride of confidence. She quickly changed into something to wear for the night as she wasn't in the mood to go on a scavenger hunt for her pajamas. The second she laid down on her bed, she fell into a deep sleep. She didn't even have time to crawl under the covers.

* * *

The next morning, Hermione awoke startled as there was a loud knock on her door. She arched her back with her arms in the air as she gave a big yawn.

Not wanting to leave the comfort of her bed, she yelled "Whoever it is better stop knocking and get in here before I hex you!" Draco slowly stuck his head in to make sure she was dressed.

"Hey sleepy, are you up?"

"Does it look like I'm up, you half wit?" she asked, annoyed.

"Ooh, not a morning person are we? Well morning person or not, we need to start discussing the upcoming events, you have fifteen minutes until I personally come in here and drag you downstairs." He said smirking.

Hermione rolled over in her heavenly bed, not wanting to get up, and just stay there all day, even though she knew she couldn't, "Fine, I'll be down in twenty minutes."

"I said fifteen."

"Take it or leave it." She said harshly as she sat up in her bed, completely forgetting what she was wearing. His eyes widened at the view, however she was completely oblivious to what he was looking at... her. "Twenty minutes Malfoy, now get out and let me get ready."

When she got up off of the blissful bed, she realized why he was so goggle eyed, he just saw her dressed in only a spaghetti strap tank top and the tiniest shorts she owned. She felt her cheeks blush as she grabbed a towel to take a shower.

After what seemed like a five minute shower, she got dressed in some nice fitting jeans and a plain baby blue shirt. She magicked her hair into a ponytail that wouldn't fall out for the whole day.

Before she took her leave to head for the common room, she remembered something that she needed to talk to Draco about, and it just couldn't wait until later. She walked into the kitchen after realizing that he wasn't there yet, and quickly conjured up some oatmeal for breakfast. She retreated to the longest couch that faced the fireplace, and sat down while eating her hot cereal. Her morning meal was so delicious and she enjoyed it so much that she never noticed that Draco was leaving his room.

He sat down on the opposite side of the coffee table with his back to the fireplace and set some parchment onto the table top. He took his wand out, whispered a spell and his quill came flying down from his room. He didn't waste any time and went straight to business.

"So, what sort of ideas do you have for this ridiculous ball Dumbledore wants us to plan?" It showed that he really wasn't into doing this.

"Before we get into this, I think we need to have a quick talk."

"What about Granger?" He now looked annoyed, but this didn't stop Hermione.

"First of all my name is Hermione, we've been through this. Second, I want to know exactly how you found out about what happened to me two summers ago. And don't you dare lie to me Draco Malfoy, I want the honest truth." She said with a stern look on her face.

"Hermione… I already told you at the club that I didn't want to discuss that matter. I don't want the whole world to know about my life."

She got aggravated at his comment and tried to keep her calm. "Well I don't want anyone to know what goes on in my life, but apparently that hasn't worked out well. You know about something in my life that no one else knows about, and quite frankly I don't like the idea of you knowing." She paused for a bit and her face sort of scrunched up. "What exactly do you know about it?"

He was stalling for a moment, but finally spoke. "Now don't get upset, but I know everything. I was there the whole time." Hermione could have sworn she saw some sort of pity in his eyes, or was it guilt?

Her eyes fluttered a little bit and she closed her eyes as stars started to appear in front of her face. "You know… everything? I mean every detail?" She asked while hesitantly opening her eyes again.

The last thing she remembered before she fainted was seeing his head nervously nod.

* * *

Hermione's eyelids fluttered a bit while she was finally waking up. She couldn't remember a thing and had no idea where she was. Wanting to know what was going on, she tried to lift herself up, but a hand was set upon her shoulder that warned her not to move. Her head turned to the right to see who it was that had touched her.

"Hermione, you shouldn't be moving about. You fainted a while ago and took a nasty cut to the head when you fell over and hit the table. It wouldn't be too wise to make it worse."

Hermione just kept on looking at him, trying to figure out who this strange boy was. She didn't remember fainting, nor hitting her head against anything. Her hand softly touched her forehead only to find that indeed there was a long cut about two inches running up and down on her face. She gasped at the thought of something so hideous resting on her skin.

Regretting it at once, she asked the young man who he was. His faced showed immense confusion and she felt a tinge of guilt, thinking that he must somehow know her. He replied by asking her if she really didn't know him. When she nodded, he gave a big sigh and thought it would help if he explained what happened.

"What was the last thing you remember?"

"I don't really know. I have this feeling like I know you, as if you are someone special… And I hate to say that I can't quite remember you. All I remember is coming to Hogwarts and I was ecstatic to be Head Girl, but also quite disappointed when Terry Boot had become Head Boy. Do you even go to Hogwarts?"

"Hermione, _I_ am Head Boy. How is it that you have no memory of me? It's as if I've been erased and your memory modified to, forget about me…"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I don't think that that is even remotely possible. If I can't remember you, it must be because I've never met you. And why do you keep calling me Hermione, you don't even know me."

"Yes, I do know you, and you know me. I have no idea how something like this could ever happen. Maybe we should go to Dumbledore?" He asked, not knowing any other option to the predicament they were in.

"Well… okay. I just want him to explain to me where Terry is and how you came to be in my life. Maybe I can find out exactly who you are…"

Hermione still felt a bit weak from before, but they both managed to make it to Professor Dumbledore's office. Draco said the password to the gargoyle that stood watch in front of the Headmaster's office. Before they knew it, they were being asked to come in the office without having a chance to knock on the door.

* * *

"How can Dumbledore be so cynical? How can he possibly say something like that?" Draco stiffly ran into the room and threw himself onto the couch face down.

"How am I supposed to know? I don't have a clue as to who you are, apart from the short description he gave me, so I don't know why I would want you out of my life." Hermione replied while sitting motioning for him to make room for her to sit next to him.

"I just didn't know you, or anyone, could hate me that much. I know that I've been a git for the past six years to your friends, but I only made fun of you because you were always around them. I didn't really want you to hate me, I never wanted you to. But I didn't know that the fact of me knowing about your incident could make you think like that!" he yelled into a pillow.

"What incident? What are you talking about?" She replied skeptically.

"I didn't want to mention anything while in Dumbledore's office, but I now know why you wanted me out of you life. I don't know if this is still in your memory, but I found out about what happened in the summer before sixth year. Well, I didn't find out, I saw it all happen because I was there."

"WHAT!"

"And here we go again…" he said more to himself. "Just don't faint again."

He explained to her the reason as to why she had fainted before, and this just seemed to make her angrier. A total stranger knowing about her personal life just wasn't acceptable. And how can someone be so cold-hearted to not stop what had happened?

_SMACK_. She slapped him hard in the cheek and it was now growing red as Hermione's temper kept rising.

"You git! How could you just have stood there and watched something like that happen to me? What kind of a person are you?" She practically yelled at him as though the world could have ended right then and there.

He just sat there, shocked at the tiny woman in front of him. Hermione couldn't help but feel reasonably bad for him. It was too bold to think that he could have done something to stop the events from happening.

"Listen… what was your name again? Draco, right? Well I'm sorry that was a bit harsh and I'm terribly sorry for hitting a stranger… I mean you. I believe you about everything that is going on, but it's too much to handle right now. It's just that knowing your memories are all fake, they're not what you really know… Do you understand?" She said with some concern for herself.

"Sort of, but I understand if you're going to be mad about it. And if you want to talk about it, I'm more than happy to fully understand what happened…" He said with concern also for her.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm going to talk to Blaise Zabini right now. He's my friend and he'll know how to help me." She said while getting up from her seat.

"Blaise is your friend? I thought you two just had a snog session, but I didn't know he felt that friendly towards you."

"Well then, I just hope that my memories about him are real, because he really is a sweet guy. Do you know him?"

"Do I know him! He's my best friend." He said with a bit of what looked like anger.

"Oh well maybe you could tell me where I might find him at this time of the day."

"Check the Slytherin common room. The list of passwords is on my desk. Good luck with your talk." He said while rolling his eyes and heading to his room.

Hermione wondered why he was acting so weird. Almost as if he was jealous that she was going to see Blaise.

* * *

_I know it's been a little longer than I had planned, but I just couldn't get the words to be perfect. And I have a nice little plan for the next few chapters. And if you're a tad bit confused as to what is going on, then that's good because it will all be explained in the next chapter._

_I also want to thank my BETA (HPobsessor, also HPobsessor2) for helping m out so much with this. She has been wonderful and added some humor that I was lacking in, which is what I really wanted this story to have._

_I also drew out a floor plan for the Head's place. Go to my profile page and there is a link for it in there. Thanks a million for reading my story. And don't forget to check out Dear Diary. I update everyday!_


	11. A Not So Sudden Conclusion

**Chapter 11  
****A Not-So Sudden Conclusion**

Even though Hermione was feeling a little glum about hitting someone she barely knew, she made her way down to the Slytherin Common Room. She was so anxious to know some more information about this strange, blonde haired boy living with her that she flat out smacked into someone while running down the stairs.

"OUCH, watch where you're going you idiot!" Someone with a familiar voice said.

Hermione tried picking herself up off the floor and gave her apologies to the person. She straightened her robes out and quickly ran her fingers through her hair and gave a quick glance to the other person trying to get up.

"Ginny, is that you?" Hermione said with surprise as she saw a bundle of red hair get up.

"Hermione? Oh, now I feel terribly sorry for calling you an idiot. Are you alright?" The red-head apologized while grabbing a hold of her friend.

"Oh don't worry about it Ginny, I was just in a rush and didn't see you. There's no need to be repentant."

"So where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"I was going to go see Blaise about something strange that's happening. Speaking of that, do you known someone named Draco Malfoy?"

Ginny just looked at her with confusion written all over her face. "Hermione, is this some sick joke? You need to quit talking with Fred and George."

"No, Ginny I'm serious. Apparently he's been erased from my mind. I was going to talk to Blaise about it. Maybe you should come with me so I don't have to explain it more than I need to." Hermione said with pleading eyes.

"I don't think that's a good idea… being down there with Slytherins." She replied with a disgusted look on her face.

"Yes, Ginny that is generally where they reside," she said sarcastically making Ginny smile, just a little, "and you know just as well as I do that Slytherins are not that bad. Look at Blaise; he's nice, sweet, hot, caring, sexy, and those eyes of his are too cute."

"You might as well just go shag Malfoy…" Ginny said while rolling her eyes.

"Well I probably would if I knew who he was…"

"Fine then, I'll go with you; but do you think we can talk about something first? I'm in the middle of a crisis."

"Of course Ginny, I'm always here to help you out." She took a seat on one of the steps, and Ginny did the same, but sat facing Hermione.

"Well it's about Harry."

"Don't tell me that you two baboons want to use my common room for private time."

"No, not at all; but now that you mention it, that isn't such a bad idea…"

"Don't even think about it Ginevra! I don't even want to think about you two going at in on my couch let alone do I want to walk in on it! Now get on with what you were planning on saying before you got that vile and disgusting picture lodged in my mind."

"Um... excuse me... but you brought it up!" Ginny said smirking.

"GINNY!" Hermione yelled telling her friend to get on with it.

"Ok fine, no need to get all pms-y on me!" she giggle, but then saw her friends stern face and continued. "Ok, it's just that he's too much of a saint. All he does is just stare at me and want to hug me all the time. Sure he kisses me, but they're small and practically mean nothing anymore. Let's just say he's not very physical. Don't get me wrong, I love the romantic stuff, but I need more than that."

"Why don't you try talking to him? Harry is the kind of person who can't really see past the surface. He needs to have things laid out in front of him. Oh sod it, he's a boy, they all do! Why do you think Ron and him are always looking off my homework?"

"Those two pretty much are buffoons. Either way, I've already tried talking to him. He says that he doesn't want to rush into anything, but it's been almost a year Hermione! I can't take it anymore!"

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but maybe it just isn't meant to be with you two. You need to call off the relationship and find someone who can make you happier. I'm not saying I approve of your need for a shag, but I just don't want to see you upset about this."

"Thanks Hermione." They both embraced into a big friendly hug. "I'll probably have a chat with him later on after dinner. Now, let's go worry about your Malfoy problem."

Hermione then took a hold of Ginny's arm and they proceeded to descend the rest of the way down the stairwell. When they got to the wall that would lead to the dungeon, Hermione said the password and a hole appeared for them to go through. Today just happened to be her lucky day; well at least this part of the day. Blaise was sleeping on a couch against the farthest wall.

"Blaise, wake up. We need to talk." Hermione ushered him awake while sitting on the edge of the couch.

"What do you want, you blubbering twit?" A very annoyed, but sleepy Blaise replied.

She smacked him playfully on the back of the head, trying to knock some sense into him. "It's me Hermione, you do remember me right?"

"Oh yeah, sorry love. I was just taking an afternoon nap. So what do you want to talk about?" He was rubbing his eyes, and finally came to sit up n the couch.

Ginny was acting very nervous and didn't seem to want to sit anywhere and didn't know exactly what to do. Hermione noticed this and motioned for her to take a seat on one of the other recliners next to the couch. She went back to talk to Blaise.

"Maybe we should go talk in my own common room; Ginny doesn't seem to be too comfortable here."

"I see you have brought young Weaselette with you…"

"Of course, she _is_ my best friend. Now, you better be nice to her." She grabbed his arm and pulled him off of the sofa. "Let's go, I want to get this over with before dinner."

* * *

All three of them got situated on the comfortable seats next to the fireplace. Hermione offered them something to drink, but they just wanted her to get on with the story.

"Well, I don't know exactly where to begin… Okay, well I woke up a while ago with this nasty gash on my forehead. There was a boy sitting next to me telling me not to move. Apparently I'm supposed to know who he is, Draco Malfoy…"

"Wait a minute, you're 'supposed to know' him? Are trying to tell me you don't remember Draco?"

"Yes, good job Blaise." She replied sarcastically. "That's exactly what happened. I have no memory of him whatsoever. He suggested that we go talk to Professor Dumbledore about it, and so we did. But you're never going to believe what he told us. First I have to explain what happened when I got this cut.

"Supposedly we, Draco and I, were talking about something dealing with me and according to him, I got furious at the fact that he knew about it and then I fainted and fell on the coffee table.

"Professor Dumbledore went on to explain that what happened was that an ancient charm went into play. Right before I fainted, I had the utmost hate for Draco and wanted him out of my life. According to legend, the only way that it would accurately happen is if "the hate is not your true emotion towards him, but only the opposite"; those were his exact words. He wouldn't tell me the name of this curse, or charm, or spell, or whatever the bloody hell it is. He wouldn't even give me any details. But the only part that Draco knows is that I hated him with a passion for one second before I fainted. Dumbledore made him leave the room before he told me the last part."

"Wow, this is intense." Blaise said with an open mouth. Ginny sat there, just shocked.

"Well how would you feel if you found out you were supposed to love Malfoy?" Ginny asked him while turning to face him. For just a second, their eyes locked, and then quickly he turned away.

"I would want to throw up. Sorry but I'm no Saloon door, I only swing one way, and it is definitely not for boys!"

"I believe you, but that's not what I meant. Anyway, Hermione you can continue."

"Well, now I just want you two to fill in the blanks for me. I don't have any idea who he really is, what he is about, and what our relationship is… If that's what you would call what we had. All Dumbledore told me is that we don't get along too well. So could you two both help me out?"

The two others looked at each and had somewhat terrified looks plastered onto their faces. "This is going to be difficult," they both said at the same time.

"Let's start from the beginning… Draco has been picking on you and your 'sidekicks' ever since first year. So in reality, he's your worst enemy. He's been calling you Mudblood ever since second year. He never shuts up about your stupid frizzy ball of hair, or at least when it used to be that way. During classes and while in the Great Hall, he would always flash you looks…" Blaise trailed off and suddenly he looked as if a light bulb would appear over his head. "Now it all makes sense. Don't you see what Dumbledore was talking about?"

"What! What are you trying to say?" Hermione said frantically. She was absolutely confused.

Ginny then had the same expression on her face as Blaise did a second ago. "Oh no. It can't be; Malfoy has more sense than that. He would never…"

"_What_ are you two on about? Would you like to fill me in here, seeing as how I'm a bit lost?" Hermione was beginning to get a bit worried at this point.

Ginny and Blaise still kept ignoring Hermione as they both went on with their own conversation.

"That would explain why she would always be going on about him. Malfoy this, Malfoy that… I always thought that she hated him, but now I can see it the other way too."

"NO! You two can't possibly be suggesting that… that I…" Hermione was stumbling over her own words.

"Yes, you're in love with your enemy."

"You two are definitely off your rockers… There is no way that I would ever have been in love with my enemy. I have more sense than that!" Hermione was angry at their sudden but irrelevant conclusion.

"Okay, well let me see then…" Blaise was thinking of some way to prove it to her that he was right. "Has he said anything nice to you since you woke up with that gash?"

She had her chin in her hand and was covering her mouth, trying to think of something. Of course she didn't want to lie, but she also wanted to find the truth so this whole dilemma would be figured out. "I don't know if you would consider this being 'nice', but if he was my enemy, he wouldn't say anything of the sort. When we came back from Dumbledore's office he was angry and ran to the couch. Then he mumbled something like 'I can't believe you would hate me that much! I never wanted you to hate me'. I'm pretty sure it something along those lines. And before that he said something that he only ever insulted me because I was around Harry and Ron."

"Well there you go Miss I live in a Book all day long! That's Malfoy's way of apologizing. They don't ever really say 'I'm sorry'. Plus he even admitted that he didn't feel the same way about you as he does Potty and Weasel. That right there has to count for something. Can't you see that he wants you by the way he pushes you away?"

"Yeah Hermione even you were just telling me how thick boys can be, Malfoy is just amongst the rest of them." Ginny said.

"Yeah, exactly Malfoy's just thick like the rest of us!" Blaise chimed in not realizing what he had just said, until both girls burst into giggles. "Wait, what? Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh shut up you!" Ginny started trying to control her laughing. "Now Hermione, I know you must be upset about this, but think of it as a chance to start over. Without you knowing every detail about him, it will be easier to find out about the 'real' Draco Malfoy." Ginny always seemed to look on the brighter side of things. That was one of the reasons Hermione and she are such good friends.

"I know that this is too much to deal with all in one day, but I love you two for helping me out. At least I know the truth now."

"I know this probably isn't the right time to ask, but I have to know." Blaise said with a bit of resentment. "What exactly is it that you didn't want Malfoy to know? You said that you two were talking about something dealing with you, and you got furious that he knew."

"Oh Merlin. This is going to be the worst thing that I will ever have to talk about. How about I calm down for a little bit? I'm really overwhelmed at the moment. Does anyone want something to drink?"

Hermione went into the private kitchen in the common room to grab some orange juice for all three of them. She also decided it would be a good idea for some snacks to eat at the moment. Little did she know that Ginny and Blaise were hitting it off back by the fireplace…

**GINNY AND BLAISE**

"So do you think 'Plan G' will finally work?" Ginny asked while moving to go sit next to him on the long stretch of the couch.

"I certainly hope so. I really thought that putting them together at the club that one night would have helped it out a little, but apparently they just fought. We're lucky that Hermione didn't see you there that night."

"Even if she did, I would have just told her that I went there to see her. I think that this might actually be our chance to get the two together. All the stupid hints that I've been sending her have not been working. I even told her that Draco was hot and she just sort of let it go." Ginny rolled her eyes at her best friend's narrow mindedness.

"And I really thought that you're idea of me going after Hermione would really make him jealous. When I brought up the subject of me snogging her, he just told me to shut up. I know he likes her, but we need to get him to admit it."

Ginny kept inching closer and closer to Blaise until she was right in his face. "He already did. Now all we need is for you to admit that... you... like me…"

* * *

Sorry about all the dialogue, but as you could tell, it was very much needed. Now don't be too surprised about the ending, it was planned like that since I wrote the first word of the story. 

I haven't been getting any reviews, so whoever reviews, gets to have five cookies from me.

And thanks a million to my BETA (HPobsessor) for the humor in this. When I worte it, it was very dry and she has an amazing talent with knowing what to put in.

**Hugs and Lollipops  
**Marina


	12. The Truth Comes Out

**Chapter 12  
The Truth Comes Out**

"Well what if I told you that I do like you?" Blaise questioned shyly to the redhead right in front of his face.

"I would have to say that that is splendid." Ginny replied with a huge smile upon her lips. "I guess our evil attempts to get Draco and Hermione together have brought us closer."

"What about Potter? Aren't you two still together?"

"Don't worry about him; he'll be taken care of. Now about me and you, how far do you think this fling will get?" She said flirtatiously.

"Maybe we can get a good shag later on. But I do think it might last awhile, at least I hope. Wait, hold on did you shag Potter?" He asked while Ginny put some space in between the two of them.

"No, he's too much of a saint."

He sighed with a happy relief and said, "Good. Yuck."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, "You don't believe that I could have gotten down and dirty with the boy who lived?"

"No, no, no... that isn't what I meant! There is nothing that would give me the thought of you not being able to get down and dirty, which by the way I just volunteered you prove to me later on, it's just the when I said that it put the image in my head. Let me tell you, the image of Potter going at it with somebody, let alone you is just... well let's just say it's not very picturesque."

Ginny let out a burst of laughter to this, "well when I break up with him, I will be sure to let him know that you are thinking of him in that way. I'm sure he'll need a pick me up after I... let him down gently."

"You tell him, and I might just have to hold out on you tonight." Blaise threatened slyly.

"You hold out on me, and you will know the meaning of the phrase PMS." Ginny laughed, and he put on a pouty face. "Oh suck it up. I won't tell Harry, and you don't have to worry about me and him, nothing happened... but I bet me and you could have…" She was cut off by a certain brunette's entrance.

**

* * *

Hermione's POV **

Hermione was pouring the orange juice into three goblets with the magic of her wand, while she rummaged through the refrigerator for something to munch on. Her mind was racing and she couldn't stay still because she was scared about what her friends would say when she told them about what happened about a year ago. She wasn't paying the slightest attention to what she was doing while staring blankly into the abyss of the fridge, and just then orange juice dribbled over the sides of the goblets.

A not-so-friendly word escaped from her mouth while she realized her ignorance. With yet another flick of her wand, the mess was cleaned up and her favorite skirt was stainless. Her mind once again fell on her dilemma. Would it really be a huge deal to tell them what happened? After all, they were her friends. If they would have any reaction to her story, it would be to comfort her, not reprimand her. Her mind was made up: she would tell them the truth without holding back.

With all of her mentality, she tried to figure out how she would start it off, but figured it would be best to not think of it and just… how do the muggle say it? Oh yeah, 'go with the flow'.

She swished then flicked her wand and with a _Wingardium Leviosa_, the tray of drinks and food was floating back to the common room. Her mind was concentrating on the spell she had conjured, but she couldn't help but notice that a bundle of red hair was not where it had been before she left.

"So Ginny, I see you and Blaise are actually getting along. What are you two talking about?" Hermione said with a raised eyebrow and a look of suspicion in her eyes.

"We were just talking about our Prefect duties and what might be coming up this year." Ginny replied with such an innocent smile. "When are we going to have our first meeting?"

"I'm not too sure; I still have to talk to Draco about that. Maybe the four of us can have a little meeting of our own; you know, come up with some ideas." Hermione suggested while the flying tray took a jet landing on the table in between the couches.

All three of them agreed to have a "private" meeting with just the two Heads and their best friends. Blaise didn't let Hermione forget that she still needed to tell a certain story. Regretfully, she went to call Draco so he could hear about it. She wanted to make sure that he knew the whole story and didn't misjudge what happened.

"Well Draco, you know what happened, but only from a third person view. Earlier you said that you wanted me to recount the story to you so you could fully understand what happened. Well this is your chance to listen. Now, I don't know how long this will take, but I don't want either of you three to interrupt me, do you understand?" She said while looking very McGonagall-like.

All three nodded while Draco said, "Yes Professor" with an added trademark smirk.

Hermione scoffed at his remark and started, "Okay, where to begin… Well last summer, about two weeks before we were all leaving for our sixth year here, I received a pretty large bruise on my shoulder, remember that Ginny?" The redhead replied with a shy 'yes'. "Well I told you that it was just from a near-fatal fight with my darned closet. Naturally I lied about it. Soon, the whole school knew about how the bookworm lost a fight with an unbearable closet doorknob. Of course I didn't care what anyone said and since I ignored it, it blew up soon enough. Draco, you don't even know how I truly got the bruise, but you soon will.

"So last summer, like every summer, my cousin and best-muggle-friend Damien came to visit me. He's only about a month older than me, but he's more into the whole rebellious thing. So for his birthday in August, he suggested we go to this stupid muggle bar where he wanted to get some drinks. He had no idea about me being a witch, so I didn't think about bringing my wand along with me. Yes, I now know that it was a dense thing to do on my part."

**FLASHBACK**

"_Damien, I don't really know if we should be going out to a bar for your birthday. Won't your parents get mad?"_

"_Not if they don't find out about it," Damien replied while winking back at Hermione._

_She was sitting in the passenger seat of Damien's new car he had received as a gift from his parents. It was a long ride to London so Hermione decided to make some small talk to make the wait go by faster. _

"_So Damien, where are we going after we leave the bar?"_

"_Maybe to this one club my friend told me about. It's supposed to be a blast, so I hope you don't mind."_

"_No not at all. So what do you want to accomplish today, on your birthday?"_

"_Maybe I'll try to snatch a girl to get a good shag."_

_Hermione just rolled her eyes at her cousin's pathetic attempts to run his life. Small talk just doesn't seem to hold well with her, so she turned on the muggle radio in his car. When they finally arrived at the muggle bar, Damien went over to the other side of the car to open the door for Hermione, showing that he still had a gentleman side._

_Half an hour had passed by slowly while Damien was trying to chug down his third beer. He slammed the bottle down onto the counter before he left to go talk to a blonde girl he spotted earlier. Hermione didn't feel comfortable following him, so she sat quietly in her seat, awaiting Damien's return._

_Suddenly, she felt the presence of two older boys, about 19 or 20 years old, on either side of her. She turned around in her seat and quickly got up. Her attempts to escape had failed as the two boys ushered her to stay. Now, realize that they didn't use any sweet charm to accomplish this, but they had pulled her down using force; which they both had quite a lot of._

"_Can I please just go and talk to my cousin now?" Hermione asked with fright visible in her voice._

"_How about we have a few drinks while we all get to know one another?" The boy on her right asked after he ordered three drinks._

_She was too scared to reject his offer, so she shyly nodded and took a sip of the Coke the boy had ordered her. This didn't taste normal and she instantly knew that he had put some alcohol into her drink. She didn't want the boy to resort to any violence, so her drink didn't go unnoticed as she sipped at it._

_Before she knew it, her body had been filled with too much alcohol that she wouldn't be able to handle. Damien still hadn't come back, so Hermione figured he was still shagging girls in the bathroom stalls._

_The boy on her left bent down and whispered something in her ear. It obviously had offended her because she pushed him away and attempted to smack him; another failed attempt as he grabbed her wrist before she could touch him. He twisted her arm behind her and then the other boy whispered in her ear, "If you don't cooperate with our wishes, we will have to force it upon you."_

_She was wondering how they could get away with this while there were tons of others in the bar. But apparently this must happen a lot due to the fact that no one would give a second glance to where they were._

"_Fuck you asshole." Hermione retorted back before she spat in the other boy's face. He put his hand up to her throat before yelling some nasty words at her. The boy that was holding onto her wrists finally let go. Before long, the boy that had spit into her face took a hold of her arm and dragged her to where the bathrooms were. Any bystanders, if any were paying attention, now knew that she would not be coming back anytime soon._

_Meanwhile, in the bathroom…_

"_Listen here bitch, if you don't help me out here and be a good little girl, you're going to find that you would wish you were dead. Got it?" The boy said with no sorrow in his eyes._

_Tears were now hurriedly trailing down her red stained cheeks. She knew that words wouldn't make any sense if she said anything at that moment, so she just nodded hesitantly. _

_Within the next ten minutes, Hermione experienced the worst pain she had ever felt before in her life, as her innocence was taken from her by force. After the bastard had finished what he has so willingly wanted, she ran out of the bathroom in search for Damien. _

_She left that night without telling a soul about her terrifying encounter._

**END FLASHBACK**

Tears were now flowing freely from her puffy red eyes. Out of all people, Draco Malfoy was holding her in his arms as she cried into his shirt.

"My Gods Hermione; that must have been terrible…" Ginny trailed off as she grabbed a hold of her and ran her fingers through her hair to calm her down.

They all sat there in shock of what she had just got done telling them. Ginny just held her until she stopped crying. Hermione lifted her head back up and wiped her tears off her cheeks. Ginny took a hold of her shoulders this time and looked intently into her chocolate colored eyes.

"Hermione, you should have told me about his earlier. I'm so stupid to believe you when you told that stupid lie… How could I have not known? You should have at least come down to The Burrow; Mum could have taken care of you."

"Ginny, don't worry about it. I took care of everything myself, trust me. I found him later on and hexed the living daylights out of him. And there was no possible way you could have known."

Draco then broke the silence. "Hermione, how exactly did you get that bruise?"

"Well, while he was… you know… he pushed me and I hit the sink. It hurt like hell, and he knew it. So while he continued, he kept pushing down hard on it to make me feel even more pain."

Draco then brought his knees up to his chest and buried his face in his hands. He wasn't crying, but for the first time in his life he felt… guilt… and shame. "Hermione, I'm terribly sorry for not stopping them. I should have done something. I feel terrible for letting them do that to you. I had no idea that the bastard took your virginity from you."

"It's not your fault, Draco. There was nothing you could do, they were too strong, and if you had used magic, the Ministry would have taken your wand away. It would have been worse off for you."

"No, Hermione. Nothing could possibly be worse than what happened to you. That shouldn't have to happen to anyone."

The other three just kept looking at her with pity. Blaise couldn't think of anything to say at this point, and was scared that he would end up saying something that would make her bawl again. So he got up from the other end of the couch and walked up to her, and embraced her in a nice warm hug.

Hermione finally had a huge weight lifted off of her shoulders as her friends comforted her. She was glad that they didn't say she was some sort of slut or whore. Now there was just one thing left to talk about.

"Draco, now that you know about all of this, I just have one thing to ask." He nodded ushering her to go on. "What _were_ you doing in a muggle bar?"

He was scared that she would eventually ask her this, so he just sat there puzzled at to what he would tell her. "Well, I was there waiting for a friend."

"You have a muggle friend?" Blaise asked a bit confused. "You were scolding me when we went to the club about having friends that were muggles, so you're just a hypocrite."

"Hold onto you pants, Blaise. First of all, I don't give a flying hippogriffs arse that you have muggle friends. Second, I was not meeting a muggle, but a wizard. And third, I was there to congratulate him a 'Happy Birthday'."

"Wait a minute, that's a strange coincidence. Two people in the same bar having the same birthdates…" Hermione trailed off. "You're not saying that Damien, my cousin is a wizard, are you?

All Draco could do was laugh. "No, but it is a strange coincidence, isn't it?"

They all just sat around for a while joking and getting to know each other a bit better. Draco was trying to get used to the fact that he would have to see the Weaselette around his common room a lot. After an hour of small talk and playing around, they decided it would be a good idea to get started on talking about prefect information.

Hermione and Draco drew up a weekly schedule of patrol duty that everyone liked. The two Heads would patrol on Monday and Wednesday nights while Blaise and Ginny would work together on Tuesday nights.

Before long, Ginny asked if there were to be any balls this year. Hermione told her that Draco and she were to plan out a Halloween Ball that would take place on the night of the 30th. The prefects were to help them out with any ideas, and help with decorations and such.

Ginny squealed and squirmed around in her seat. She was too excited about having to attend another ball. This would be the first once since the Yule ball in her third year, and she was overly ecstatic. Soon enough, the topic changed to the dance competition that Dumbledore had mentioned to the Heads the day before.

"Ginny and Blaise, this is very important so I trust that neither of you will tell any of the other prefects that you two are helping us plan this." They both agreed. "Good. Now we need to set some limits on this, or else Draco and I are going to have to judge practically the whole school."

"How about we make it for fifth years and up, that way we won't have to deal with the clumsy younger kids." Draco suggested.

"Sound fair to you guys?" She asked while pointed towards Ginny and Blaise. "Well now that the age restriction is set, what kind of dance should we limit it to?"

"I don't think that there should be a rule about what kind of dance they could do. We should leave it to their imagination." Ginny replied with a gleam in her eye quite similar to the one that Dumbledore usually has.

Draco started laughing out of nowhere.

"What's so funny Ferret?" Ginny was mad because she thought he was laughing at something she had said.

"Don't worry mini-weasel, it was nothing you said. I just started imagining Finnegan doing some sort of step dance or an Irish jig with some silly green, skin-tight outfit on. He would just be making a fool of himself."

All four of them suddenly erupted in a loud laughter.

"Well at least it would be something different to watch, instead of the usual waltz or ballet most people would do." Hermione said after the laughing died down. "Should we make it so it's couples only, to make the competition fair?"

"Or we could have two separate competitions. One for the couples, and then another for the ones doing it by themselves." Blaise suggested.

Draco obviously thought it wasn't a good idea by the way he shook his head like a lion tearing up his prey. "That would make it too long of a competition and too many people to judge. Plus I don't think that the students want to see that many of their friends making fools of themselves."

"Hey, you and I have to compete in this too, don't forget that." Hermione seemed offended. "Well at least I'm assuming you're the one I have to do this with, seeing as Terry really isn't Head Boy."

"Yes, we both have to do this together. How about we make it a limit of ten couples, and only couples? Sound like a fair number to you?"

"Sounds like a plan. Now all we have left to do is set a date for auditions and then make posters to put up in all four common rooms."

"Maybe we should make the auditions sometime after the ball, that way we can worry about one thing at a time. It would also give everyone enough time to practice and decide what type of dance they want to do." Blaise recommended yet again.

"Good Blaise, you're on a roll…" Ginny commented while letting off a slight blush.

"Why, thank you my fair lady." Blaise stood up and gave a slight bow and placed a kiss on Ginny's hand, the gesture, however, just made her blush even more.

Draco and Hermione both rolled their eyes at the same time. "How dramatic…" Hermione said at Blaise's stupid attempts to capture Ginny's heart.

* * *

It might be awhile until I post chapter 13 of this story. Since I'm on break from school and I'm home for the holidays, I have to spend _Riddikulus_ amounts of time with family. I also have an appointment on Saturday for my ankle, and my old High School football team is going to play at State for the first time in 14 years, so I'm going to that. I just have a busy week ahead of me, and I also need to work on being able to update Dear Diary. So if you want an update, check out that story. 


	13. Maybe Just A Little?

**Chapter 13  
****Maybe Just a Little?**

Draco, Hermione, Ginny and Blaise finished making magical posters for the auditions right before it was time for dinner. All four of them rushed to the Great Hall. Draco and Blaise left before Hermione and Ginny as to not make anyone suspicious of what the four of them were doing together.

Dinner that night went by as quick as ever. Before Hermione knew it, she was back in her personal common room. She was about to leave to go put the posters up in the other common rooms, when she heard Draco leave his room. Hermione asked him to come along and help her. He agreed before she could say 'sexy'; which was exactly what she thought when she saw him.

He had obviously just gotten out of the shower and he didn't have time to slick his hair back, so it fell over his eyes making him look mysterious, yet so seductive.

They were just putting a poster up in the Ravenclaw common room, the last of their stops, when someone bid Hermione a good evening. She turned around to see none other than Luna Lovegood.

"Hey there Luna; I thought you would be with Neville." Hermione replied back, letting Draco finish putting the poster up himself.

"Naturally you would think that…" She said while zoning off into her alternate dimension. Hermione took the liberty of snapping her out of it.

"Right, sorry. I was going to ask you something; what type of dance are you and Draco doing?"

"How did you know Draco and I…"

"Trust me, I know." She said with a wider than normal smile.

"I'll take your word for it." She replied sarcastically. Thank Merlin Luna is too distracted to notice. "Well, we haven't really had time to talk about it, but maybe we should think about it soon. Are you thinking about auditioning, Luna?"

"No, I have never been the type to make a fool of myself in front of others."

_You always make a fool of yourself in front of others, whether you want to believe it or not._

"I see… Well we should be going. I'll see you sometime later Luna. Have a good night."

The second the portrait swung shut behind the two of them, Draco had something to say. "Why are you friends with that girl? She's obviously living in a different world and she makes absolutely no sense when she talks."

"Luna may be a bit on the strange side, but you have no idea how unbelievably smart she is. I have a feeling that she might get Head Girl position next year. Other than her smarts, she's a very sweet girl, her intentions are good, and she has a heart of gold. She's a rare find for a friend."

"You can say that again…"

"You want me to say all of that all over again?" She said playfully, with a look of fake shock.

"No, just that she's a rare find. But she does have a point you know…"

"Wait just one minute, Draco, are you agreeing with Loony Luna?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. But I think that we really do need to decide on what we are doing for this competition. _Challenge._" Draco said the password to the portrait to the entrance of their common room.

Hermione laid herself down on the long, comfortable couch and closed her head and rubbed her temples. Before long, she could feel something hovering over her face. She opened her eyes to see none other than Draco.

"Do you always have to do that?" She said rather annoyed.

"Wait, so you actually remember me doing that before? Have you just been pulling my leg over this whole 'losing your memory' thing?" Draco was confused.

"No, I really did lose my memory of you… But I do have this vague memory of you standing over me like that from before… Maybe, in order for me to regain my full memories of you, you have to do some of the same stuff from before."

"Like what? Hover over you all day?"

"No, you twit. How about things you used to say to me, or something you did to me."

"Well I can't remember anything. How about I call you something: _Get the fuck out of my way, Mudblood!_ Did that work?" Draco said with another one of his famous smirks.

"Nice try, but, no."

"I don't even know why I'm trying to help you out anyway… You are just a Mudblood."

"Fine then. Let's just get to thinking about what we're supposed to do for the competition. Sound good to you?" Hermione asked while lying back down on the couch.

"Sounds like a bloody fantastic time."

It must have been almost ten minutes that they both just sat there, not saying a single word. They were both thinking, and could tell that the other was too, but not about the dance. Thoughts of each other were flowing through their minds. Draco must have gotten scared of what he was thinking of, because he suddenly got up out of his seat and made his way to stand in front of Hermione. He stuck his hand out in front of her, while she just stared at it.

"Take my hand, Hermione."

She was hesitant, but complied nonetheless. When she stood up to meet his eyes, he led them to the other side of the couches to the big empty space atop of the rug. He twirled her a bit, and pulled her in close to her so that the space in between them was void.

"How about we do some ballroom dancing?" He asked in whisper.

Without any time for her to answer, he proceeded in leading the way in a waltz. He muttered an inaudible spell and suddenly the room was filled with a slow paced song for them to follow. He led the way, and she followed his every step without faltering and losing her balance. The song started to speed up, and so did their moves along with the beat. They were finally getting used to their stance and dancing about, when suddenly the music stopped and Hermione let go of Draco.

"I don't like it. It's too common and I bet tons of others will try to do it," she replied when he looked at her with confusion.

"Oh, I thought you didn't like dancing with me," he said relieved.

"On the contrary my friend, I absolutely loved dancing with you. Let's just try something else…"

They stood there looking at each other while coming up with something original. They started to circle each other, never averting their gaze. Unexpectedly, Draco had an idea.

"What are your feelings towards the movie Dirty Dancing?" He asked her with a piercing stare.

"I loved it, but what does that have to do with our situation, and how do you know about a muggle movie? I mean I don't remember much of anything about you, but you don't seem like the type of guy who would take interest in muggles." She said innocently, knowing what was coming.

"Believe me, I have my ways. You know, Hermione, we could do something like they did in the movie. You know… the Ballroom Salsa sort of thing. It looks like fun."

"I don't know… I'd feel weird dancing that seductively in front of the whole school. I don't even think that Professor Dumbledore would approve."

"Well, if he does go along with the idea, then would you do it with me?" He was on the verge of getting down on his knees and begging her.

"I guess we should try to see how the dance works out with us, and then we'll ask Dumbledore. Sound okay with you?"

"That sounds fantastic, but do you think you can do some of the moves?" He asked with eyes widening as he looked her up and down.

"Well, I can't say that I've practiced anything of the sort before, but remember that I've been dancing ever since I could walk, so I can accommodate to any dance as needed. I'm just not too comfortable with the whole seduction thing, especially with someone I'm just getting to know."

Without any further notice, he quickly wrapped one arm around her back and before she could protest at his daring move, he lowered her into a dip. He brought his face closer to hers… and now it was barely an inch away. Letting her natural instincts take over, Hermione bent her head backwards and this was just what Draco was expecting her to do. He then took his empty hand, the left one, and placed it on the base of her neck, and slowly lowered it over her skin until it landed over her belly button.

Hermione was somehow lost in this move and the world that Draco had put her in, but was suddenly spellbound when a chill was sent through her spine. This has never, not once, ever happened to her in this sort of manner.


	14. I Know How You Feel

**Disclaimer: **Hermione, Draco, Blaise, Ginny, Harry, Ron and any other character that you recognize, do not belong to me but to JKR. Sometimes I do wish I owned Draco though...

I just wanted to sorry that I'm terribly sorry for the crappy long wait, but I had major laptop problems and I wasn't able to access any of my files. I already had most of this written out by the time my computer decided to turn spazzo, and i didn't want to write it all over again. I know that everyting seems to be going slow, well it is, but I promise for more action and for the speed to be picked up. Well enjoy and please check out my other stories. Thank You.

**Chapter 14  
I Know How You Feel**

Hermione was standing hidden behind an overly confident Draco, trying to hide the fact that she was indeed a bit embarrassed at the moment. They were both in front of a group of six others, all of whom were prefects. This was the first real prefect meeting of the year that they would have to conduct and were also to announce the plans for the dancing contest and what Draco and she were planning to do.

The headmaster had thought it was a splendid idea that would show an immense amount of energy and that Gryffindors and Slytherins could get along better than others thought. Hermione found his acceptance a bit of an unfortunate piece of news because she was scared to act that way in front of the entirety of the school.

So here she was, hiding behind Draco, waiting for the last two prefects and for the meeting to start. Finally, in walked Blaise Zabini and none other than Ginny Weasley right behind him. Hermione made a mental note to talk to Ginny about this awkward situation later on.

Draco immediately started taking charge on the meeting. "Well it's good to know that some can be late, but nonetheless, everyone showed up which is a start to the school year." He gave a quick cold glare towards Blaise before starting up again. "We've been through all of the basics already, but if anyone has any questions now is the time to ask them."

No one even twitched in fact, the whole room was silent. Draco knew that Hermione was feeling a bit out of it, but she needed to get in it, so he leaned back to her and said, "Hermione now might be the time for you to say something, so get over your nervousness. Okay?" She gave him a confident nod and stepped to the side so they were standing right next to each other.

"Well, since there are no questions, we're going to get straight to the point." The old Hermione was now taking over, and it looked like she would never stop. "Professor Dumbledore informed Draco and me about a dance competition that he wants us to hold. I know you have all seen the posters that we put up last night in each of the common rooms, so I'm sure you have some sort idea of what to expect. It is to be couples-only dances and we two," she pointed to herself and Draco, "are going to judge the couples that are going to be in the final competition."

"Hermione slow it down just a little. You don't want to have a hernia now…" Draco whispered in her ear and made her blush a little.

"Sorry," she replied to him before turning back to the prefects. "All we have left is to set the date for the auditions. It has to be sometime after the Halloween ball, which we also have to plan. Anyone have any ideas?"

"How about we make it two weeks on the Saturday before the first Quidditch match in November?" Luna suggested. "It would be on the eighth, because the match is on the twenty-second."

"That sounds perfect to me," Draco replied to her proposition. "Is the date good enough with everyone else?"

Everyone murmured what seemed like replies of yes.

"Alright so it's settled; auditions are to be held on November the eighth." Draco then took his wand out and gave his wand an upward flick to the left and the tip of his wand glowed a faint purple for a few seconds and then faded. "All the posters have been magically updated to have the date posted on them."

"Now that the date is finally set, I just want to say that I hope many of you at least audition. It would be a great example to the rest of the school."

"Just please make sure that you can dance," Draco retorted with a less-than-familiar smirk and sniggers could be heard from the students, including Hermione. "Dumbledore has also made it clear that he wants a variety of dances to be included and no two couples can do the same type of dance. Hermione and I have decided to do Salsa sort of Ballroom dancing, so no one else can try that out." A small blush started creeping its way onto her cheeks and her whole face felt hot. It seemed as though all eyes were glaring at her. Deciding that she didn't want to feel singled out, she hurriedly tried to change the subject.

"Alright, well now that that's settled, let's get on with the last part of the meeting: the Halloween Ball. Dumbledore wants us to plan it on being the night of the thirtieth instead of the thirty-first. I don't know why, but we don't need to get into that."

"Maybe it's because he's still a crack of an old fool and it's finally catching up to him." Draco cheekily retorted.

"I resent that, Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore just happened to walk in at the wrong time…

"Sorry Professor. Just trying to lighten the mood…" the blonde-haired Slytherin apologized, which was definitely something new.

"It's quite alright, my dear boy. But please do relax; you look like you've seen a ghost." He then walked up to where Hermione and Draco were standing and handed them a piece of parchment. "I just came by to give you these personally before the meeting ended. Please read them carefully and follow the instructions, making sure that the others follow them as well. Good day to you all." And with that said he left just as quickly as he came.

Hermione speedily opened the parchment that had been folded in half and silently read it.

_I know that you are both capable of organizing everything for the dance, but I think it would be a wise idea to advise you with a basic outline for planning this. I would like it if you were to pair up the prefects and have the groups take care of one portion of the dance; Food & Drinks, Entertainment, Decorations, and Admission. I know that it's too bold to charge the students for entrance into the dance, but all profits made from it will go straight to St. Mungo's for the organization of 'Helping the Harmed of the War'. Please inform the students in charge of admissions about this and make sure they set the price to be a reasonable one._

_Please report to my office once the meeting is done. Thank you._

"Well Professor Dumbledore wants us to split the rest of you into four groups and I trust your judgment, so go ahead and pair yourselves off." With that said, all eight were swiftly divided amongst themselves. "Now, there are four sections of the dance that each group is to be in charge of. They are: Food and Drinks, Decorations, Entertainment, and Admission."

Just then a student's hand shot up in the air as fast as Ron's cheeks would turn red.

"You have a question, Hannah?"

"Why are we charging for admission?

"Exactly my thoughts… Why is the old bat taking money from us? First he's made Headmaster, now he's a pickpocket?" Draco retorted with the same ungrateful tone as before.

"I was getting to that… And tone down the attitude, Malfoy. We are going to charge a small amount from every student attending, but only because Hogwarts is going to donate all the money to help support all witches and wizards that were hurt some point in the war. So whoever will be in charge of taking care of that, will have to settle on a reasonable price. Got it?" Everyone nodded and said small replies of yes. "Okay now who would like to take over the job for admission?"

"Ginny and I could take of that. We could also set up some sort of table every Saturday and Sunday where students can buy their tickets." Blaise said more eagerly than expected.

"Well, if you both are willing to take the responsibility of it, then that's fine with me. Okay, now who would like to be in charge of managing food and drinks? We will need a variety of wizarding snacks and it will be left to you which drinks to get and how to obtain it."

"I'm pretty sure Boot here and I could manage something as simple as that. We could talk to Madam Rosmerta about the drinks and the elves could help us out with the food." Theodore Nott seemed way too eager to be in charge of the drinks… something that shouldn't be taken lightly from a Slytherin.

Hermione had too much on her mind to even worry about his odd behavior or to even mind his comment about the house elves. She just wanted to get the day over with. "Alright Nott, you and Terry can both be in charge of this. I'll explain how to get to the kitchens after the meeting." They both nodded to her finalizing that topic.

"The last two options left," Draco said, "are Decorations and Entertainment. Which of the last two groups wants to take care of Decorations?"

When the room was silent for a few seconds, Luna finally spoke up. "I'm sure that Neville and I could handle that part. Shouldn't be too hard and I'm positive that we can come up with some creative things." Hermione swore she could see a familiar hint of a gleam in her eyes.

"Alright, Ernie and Hannah, are you both willing to take care of the entertainment for the night?" Hermione asked the last remaining group.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to be in charge of anyway," Hannah replied eagerly.

"Okay, now that that's settled, I just wanted to point out in order to make everything fair, we can all have input in all of the areas for organizing the party. If anyone of you wants to mention anything, make sure to either drop a note off at mine and Draco's common room or send either of us an owl. All of our scheduled meetings will be every Wednesday, just like today. When classes start we will meet after dinner at precisely seven thirty. Sound alright with everyone's schedules?"

"That's fine," Terry pointed out, "but what exactly will you two be doing for the ball?"

Draco didn't seem to like his obtrusive manner. "We will be making sure that everything the eight of you are doing is in tip-top shape. Regular check-ups will be made to see that you are not falling behind and that everything is going according to plan. We also have the dance competition to worry about, and patrolling duties. We have two days out of the week while all of you have only one."

"Speaking of which, we have copies of the schedule for everyone. If there is a day that you are scheduled to patrol but you cannot due to reasonable prior plans, then please let me know otherwise _and _beforehand so we can switch you places with someone else." After her little tangent, she passed around a piece of parchment to everyone with the set routine. "Now, are there any other topics of discussion that anyone wants to go over before we dismiss the meeting?"

No one gave any suggestion that they wanted to make the meeting last longer. Hermione and Draco dismissed everyone, but she called Theodore and Terry to stay behind. She told them exactly how to get to the kitchens how they should tickle the pear in order to get in. A wise piece of information that she gave them was to ask for Dobby first and then tell him that she had sent the two boys. She knew that Dobby would also accept friends of hers.

The two Heads were walking back to their common room both at the same pace with an unnerving silence between them. She would steal sly glances at him, trying to read his face, but she just couldn't make out what he was feeling. It was strange. She was used to being around Ginny, and she was someone that she could read like a book. Every word, action, and expression that the red head would release, Hermione could instantly tell what was going on in the girl's mind.

However, Draco was different. Today was the second day since she 'met' him and since she first laid eyes upon him, she'd been trying to figure him out. He usually kept to himself and never had any expression on his face other than a blank one. The only time that it would change would be when a smirk would suddenly appear when he was making a witty remark or if he was insulting someone. The only thing that she could semi-figure out about him, was that he never really meant what he said when he insulted a person. She obviously hadn't seen him do this very often, but the few times she saw this action, she could see the remorse hidden beneath his skin for a mere instant.

They finally reached the portrait hole and Draco recited the password and walked in first with the brunette close behind him. He went to go sit in the armchair on the right side of the fireplace and Hermione quickly made her way to the couch. She kept looking at him, and Draco could feel the burning of her eyes.

"What?" he finally asked a little on the panic-stricken side.

"Nothing, I'm just trying to figure you out…" she replied while still trying to get a good look into his haunting eyes.

"And why exactly do you want to do that?"

"Because I hate being next to you and not knowing who you are. I have this strange feeling that I know you, and I know you well, but it's just this empty space. Every time I get close to thinking I can grasp another memory, it slips away and I feel like I've failed."

"So you just want to fill this void you have in your mind?"

She took her feet and placed them under her so she was sitting on them. "No… it's more of an empty feeling inside. Like in my heart or my soul or whatever that belongs to me that has feelings. Every time I slip once more, that space just seems to expand on its own. I've never failed at anything, and this just makes it worse. It's like I keep digging myself deeper into this hole that I will never get out of."

He gave her the first sign of an expression that she had seen: a small smile. "Trust me… I know exactly how you feel."


	15. Same Old Hermione

**Disclaimer:** Anything that you automatically recognize belongs to the wonderful and amazingly talented JK Rowling. But I promise, Draco will soon be mine... I wish.

I appreciate all the reviews that I've recieved so far. I just wish that a lot of others who read would at least a review with a few small words summarizing your thoughts about everything. Constructive criticism is always apprciated, and positive and negative feedback is also welcome.

**Chapter 15  
****Same Old Hermione**

After the third day of being in Hogwarts and her Head Girl duties had lastly died down, Hermione finally had a chance to enjoy the short lived break before classes would start on the upcoming Monday. Plans for the Hallowe'en ball were starting to come together very skillfully and Dumbledore seemed to be pleased with the way everything was turning out. Sign up sheets for the dance competition had finally been posted that wonderful Saturday morning and students were eager to get started.

Saturday morning breakfasts were something that every student loved, but not as much as the feisty brunette and her raven haired and red head friends. They didn't have to discuss it or even confirm some sort of 'plan' but they just all automatically showed up at the entrance to the Great Hall at precisely ten in the morning. It was like an unspoken rule between them that neither of the three dared to defy. It was always a perfect time to get that perfectly crisped bacon but still get an ample amount of sleep.

All three walked towards the Gryffindor table with the boys' arms linked with Hermione's, who walked in between, and took their seats across from Ginny, Lavender, and Neville. While they all piled their plates with the normal breakfast rations and poured goblets filled with orange juice, they all talked about various topics. However, no one dared to mention the issue of the dance competition, due to the request of Hermione. She wanted to save herself from as much embarrassment as possible while still keeping her dignity intact. So of course she had Ron agree to lash out on anyone who would slip and forget about the silence they were supposed to keep. His new title seemed to be 'bodyguard' but he didn't care as long as help found a friend in need.

Everyone's favorite topic seemed to find its way to their lips: Quidditch. The girls seemed to only be interested because they wanted to know what the team's tactics were so they could claim the victory against Slytherin this year. Everyone wanted assurance that the snakes didn't have any nasty tricks up their sleeve that the fierce lions weren't ready to overcome. As their interest died away, Lavender and Ginny started to talk about the one thing they knew Parvati was missing out on: gossip. Their fellow Gryffindor gossiper decided that it would be best to skip out on breakfast and catch up on her beauty sleep.

"Oh dear, I officially have some sort of pity for her now. Didn't you think that Pansy and her overly conscious self would have eventually rubbed off on poor Millicent," Lavender continued on with the scandalous conversation.

"I guess you could say my heart has gotten a bit softer for the poor witch, but did she have to practically throw herself on him? I mean she sacred the living daylights out of him…" Ginny replied while sporadically glancing over to where Millicent Bulstrode was sitting at the Slytherin table.

Hermione decided to take Parvati's spot that morning. "Well I think that Seamus should have seen it coming. Did you thickheads seriously not notice the way she would always glance at him in our History of Magic lessons? And is everyone so dense that no one thought it suspicious how she would randomly show up at the Fat Lady's portrait?"

"No one's as smart as you Hermione," Ginny replied sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

"Well no one would have ever imagined that the beast of Slytherin would have been interested in Gryffindor's own half-blood Irish." Lavender sure seemed to be very blunt about the situation.

"At least she's the second Slytherin to try to come together with us Gryffindors. Maybe they're not all as bad as we take them out to be."

Lavender's face was overcome with confusion and she tried giving Ginny a threatening glare. "What do you mean she's the **second** Slytherin? Who exactly is the first?"

"I'm surprised to hear our sixth year gossip queen hasn't revealed any of this appalling information before this point in time," Hermione answered back.

"What are you on about, Hermione?" Lavender kept pleading.

"A certain Slytherin had been keeping an eye out for our gorgeous bookworm here. It was a bit on the stalker-ish side if you ask me."

"Ginny, will you just tell me who it is!" Lavender was on the edge of her seat and if she scooted up any further, she would fall face first into her porridge.

"I can't believe you haven't noticed this either Lavender. It's Hogwarts' own Italian sexy boy, Blaise Zabini," Hermione replied in a tiny agitated sense but still sarcastic enough for her.

They talked for the next ten minutes or so about Lavender's newly found central topic for gossip that day. Frankly, Hermione didn't care if the whole school knew that Blaise had once been after her because Ginny (thankfully) forgot to mention the kiss they shared. Plus the thought crossed into her mind that he was starting to find some sort of interest in Ginny. Speaking of Blaise and Ginny, she remembered the matter of the two walking in late to the prefect meeting together, three days ago that she still needed to confront Ginny about.

After breakfast was all over with, Harry and Ron decided to go and fly around the Quidditch pitch, Neville went to go find Luna, and Lavender decided it would be about time to spring a surprise attack on Parvati. Hermione then decided it would be a perfect time to discuss a certain issue that had been lingering in her mind with Ginny. Since it was a nice day outside, they decided it would suit them to take a walk along the lake.

Once they reached the edge of the shore, Hermione brought up the subject.

"So what's going on with you and Blaise lately?"

"Nothing really," she replied while absentmindedly kicked a rock and staring at the ground. This was very unlike the red head.

"Well, it certainly didn't seem like 'nothing' when you both walked into the meeting practically hand in hand. If I could notice the signs with Millicent and even with a certain male Gryffindor who shall remain nameless, then I can most undoubtedly tell when there is something different about my best friend. So spill the beans."

"What? I don't have any beans…" She looked more confused than when Professor Snape was told by a second year that he needed to wash his hair.

"It's a muggle expression, Ginny. It means give me the information, and now!"

"Well, remember when I told you that I was a bit on the unpleasant side with Harry? It's not that I don't love him, which I do, it's just that he needs to learn to open up a bit more and quit being cautious about his feelings. And Blaise is very forward and I really like that."

"I see… Have you told Harry that you no longer want to be with him? I think it would be a bit disappointing if he accidentally happened to find his girlfriend in a broom closet one day with another man, especially a Slytherin."

"No, I haven't mentioned anything yet. I think I just want some time off from him, just mainly to see what else is out there and if I can permanently handle someone like Blaise."

"It's not the question is you can handle him or not, because I know you can. The real question is if you want someone like him. Harry is a wonderful person and I wouldn't trade him in for anyone in the world. He cares so much about everyone and their well being."

They reached a decent stopping point and sat on top of a big boulder by the edge of the lake and starting skipping stones.

"Trust me I know. I even remember when he left the Burrow to go see you during the summer when you thought you lost your Head Girl title. I have to agree that it's very fitting for him, but I don't know if I can take anymore of his 'shyness' or whatever it may be."

"Ginny, have you ever wondered if the reason he acts the way he does is because he cares too much about you? I've seen the way he looks at you and I know he would never do anything to hurt you, I just think that he really wants to take things slow and not let anything get in the way."

"Trust me, Hermione, that's exactly what he's doing. But I hate the fact that he doesn't believe that nothing would really ruin what he have because no matter how fast we move, it won't ever affect the way I feel about him."

"Then why do you want to try things out with Blaise?" Her stone plopped into the water without even making it twenty feet into the depths of the Blake Lake.

"To tell you the truth, I honestly don't know. All I know is that I just can't handle being with Harry at the moment. I'm going to reassure him that everything will be fine, that I just need time to make sure that he's really the one for me. I know he is, but I just also want to have fun right now and he's not giving me that chance."

Hermione couldn't help but let go of her suppressed laughter. "You mean you want to have fun like our old adventures, or you want the kind of fun that is forbidden in public places?"

"That's for me to know and for no one to find out," she replied with a mischievous grin.

"Well, I support you Ginny, as long as this is what you want."

"It's what I want… for now."

As they finished their conversation, the two girls made their way back up to the caste and proceeded to Hermione's room. They decided t go over a few things for the upcoming Hallowe'en ball and see if any ideas would come to mind while watching a movie on the T.V. that Hermione had snuck into the castle and magicked so it would work within the castle walls.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

They hadn't even been watching Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves for a good twenty minutes, when two figures barged in through the portrait hole. The two had obviously been Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini making a scene at who could slide down the banister of the staircase on the fourth floor faster. They didn't even notice the two girls sitting in the common room until they heard a shout coming from a black box with a moving picture sitting in front of them.

When they walked over and kept on bugging them about what that magnificent thing was, it took Hermione a good thirty minutes to fully explain the concept of a television set to the boys and make them shut up. They both decided, amazingly enough, to join the girls and watch the movie with them. After they had restarted the movie, and watched for a good fifty minutes, Blaise raised his eyebrows and made a sort of a grunting noise.

"Hey, doesn't that Sheriff of Nottingham look very familiar to you?"

No one could quite put their finger on it, but had all come to conclusion that he indeed looked like someone they all knew. They just let it slide for the moment…

Ginny and Blaise were getting a little too comfortable on the couch and Draco could have sworn he heard Hermione cough something about 'Harry' to the younger Weasley.

After the movie had finally finished, Ginny decided that it was a good time to go have a nice chat with Harry in the Gryffindor common room. She promised to come back later on that night to tell Hermione everything and how well he took it. Blaise then mentioned that he was getting hungry and decided to go fetch Theodore Nott to go eat in the Great Hall. How forgetful he was to remember that the Heads of the school had their own kitchen where they could easily conjure up a nice meal.

And that's exactly what Draco and Hermione proceeded to do. They quickly made their own combined meal which consisted of soup and sandwiches. While eating their lunch on the marvelous table they had, an awkward silence surrounded them. The only sound that could be heard was the occasional slurping of their soup from the spoons.

"So what are you going to do for the rest of the day?" Hermione broke the silence.

"I don't really have anything planned. Are my charming skills finally getting to you and you want to go out with me?" He replied with that nasty smirk of his.

"Absolutely not! I was just trying to make small talk."

"Oh, well then. What are you going to do on this wasteful Saturday?" Slurp.

"I was actually thinking of heading up to the library and doing some research on this stupid curse that I have placed on me. There obviously has to be some solid way to cure this problematic dilemma I have. I mean, our library has information on practically everything."

"You know… you always seem to surprise me. I figured you would want to go and enjoy the sun outside, but you just want to go to the library. You're still the same old Hermione…"

"I hope that was a compliment." She was glaring daggers at him while trying to take a bite of her sandwich.

'Well, let's just say that there is nothing wrong with you. Except that the sunshine wouldn't do any harm to that pale skin of yours."

"Ha! Look whose talking…"

"Fine. I'll make you a deal. I'll go help you in the library since it was practically my fault, and then you have to go outside with me tomorrow for at least a few hours. That way we can both get rid of our pasty skin." He held out a hand for her to shake, finalizing their deal.

She looked at it a bit unnerved, but decided she could do with both the help and the sun. "Okay, deal," she replied while taking his hand in hers.

* * *

_If anyone catches the bit of information from the Muggle Universe that I purposely slipped in there, I will give you 17 slices of brownies._


	16. Finally, Salvation

**Chapter 16  
****Finally, Salvation**

After they finished eating their meal, Draco and Hermione made their way to the library. They had been sitting in the back doing research, at a table that could accommodate four individuals, for no less than two hours and no information had yet been found. Hope was soon diminishing as every shut book delivered no salvation. On the other half of the table, books were piled one on top of the other in a heap that had been marked as 'already examined.' There were books with such titles as _Memory Charms and How to Deal_, _Obliviate_, and one that bothered Hermione profusely, _How to Erase Your Own Memory_.

There was another stack of books, although much smaller, that was yet to be looked through. Hermione roughly closed one book, placed it on top of another 'already examined' book, and made her way to grab another pile of text.

"Do you think we'll eventually find any useful information?" Draco asked a bit unnerved.

"I sure hope so."

Another hour passed by and the pile of books seemed to reach an ultimate high. If anyone were to walk by the table, they wouldn't even know that the two students were sitting by the window because books were towering over their heads. Hermione was getting a bit sick and tired of the mess, so she took a few minutes away from reading to magically put away the books. Most of them could be put away with just a flick of her wand, but a few had to be pushed in the right direction.

When she returned to yet another hardback for research, she was so engrossed into it, that she was oblivious to two figures walking in through the front double doors. If she were to turn her head in their direction, she would see two very shocked faces and one whose cheeks were turning a scarlet red. She only noticed their presence after hearing their loud stomps and the steam practically blowing out from Ron's ears.

"Hermione, what in bloody hell's name are you doing here with the ferret?" the red head bellowed at her.

"Honestly, Ron, you need to relax," replied Hermione. "Do you two remember when I mentioned that I lost all memory of Draco?" The two boys nodded in agreement but one still with a scowl on his face. "Well in order for us to be able to actually work as Heads this year, I decided it would work out better if I actually had some sort of memory and he decided to help me out."

The boys still didn't seem to be convinced by her statements, but Harry seemed a bit less tense than Ron was. "What do you get out of this, _Malfoy_?" the raven haired Gryffindor asked.

"It's the least I can do, _Potter_. Shocker, I know. I've already admitted that what happened was my fault and I owe Granger that much." His face was still tight as it always was when he was around Wonder Boy and his sidekick, but his eyes gave the impression that they were agreeing with his declaration.

"Very touching, but I'd prefer it if Hermione wouldn't hang around a low life death eater." Ron's words came out filled with detest and malevolence.

Draco slammed his hands against the table top and quickly rose out of his chair. With the worst death glare imaginable, he made his way to face Ron and stood staring at him, only inches away. "I'd be _very _careful of the words you choose to say Weasel, because they might just be your last ones…"

"Is that so, _death eater_?" He crossed his arms across his chest and gave Draco a look that said 'try me.'

"Hermione was right. You're so thickheaded that your words are pathetic and your comebacks are futile." He was soon equipped with a smirk when he saw the look of horror in Ron's eyes.

The red head's arms detached themselves and looked over towards Hermione in a look of revulsion. "I'll deal with you later." He then quickly withdrew his wand from his robe pocket, pointed it towards Draco, and shouted and Draco was quickly flipped into the air and left dangling upside down.

"You pompous, pretentious, fucking git!" The white-blonde shouted back. He would have taken his wand out and cursed the bastard back, but Hermione had intervened.

"Ronald Weasley! You flip Draco back around, **right now**!" She shouted while the boy's cheeks quickly grew red again.

"Taking his side now, aren't you? Fine, act that way Hermione. This is bullshit!" With another flick of his wand, Draco was standing back on his own two feet and Ron stomped out of the library, leaving three other students with a mixture of shock and anger.

"You know he's just doing this because he cares about you…" Harry pointed out before taking a few steps back, turning around and retreating from the expansive library.

Hermione just looked at Draco with empathy filled within her facial features, and made sure he was okay. "Sorry about all that. His anger gets the best of him and he just can't control it. Trust me; you still haven't witnessed the full wrath of Ron." She gave him a shy smile which he returned with another. "I should probably go try and talk to him. I know Harry isn't too quick to counter my judgments, but Ron could go like this for days at a time. We can finish research any other time. See you in the common room later on?"

"Yeah… later."

The Gryffindor swiftly grabbed her bag and walked away from a still mystified Draco. Before striding fully out of sight, she flicked her wand, making the rest of the books flying to their respective shelves. The last thing she saw before completely leaving the library was Madame Pince retrieving something from the Restricted section…

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

"What the bloody hell was that all about, Hermione? Have you actually been telling the fucking ferret that I'm thick?" Ron's face was as bright as his hair and was yelling profusely at Hermione while Harry just sat on the couch with Ginny, watching the two.

"I never once mentioned to him about your thickness! Even though it's true…" She whispered the last sentence, but Ron still seemed to hear her. "And you know it is, so don't you dare try to deny it!"

"So what have you been telling him that made him come to this conclusion?"

"Nothing that holds any importance at this present time of life…"

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"This is the perfect example as to why everyone thinks you're so bloody idiotic! For Merlin's sake Ron… How long would it take for you to notice when someone likes you? The only thing that I told Draco was how I used to have feelings for you, but you never did anything about it. So now it doesn't matter because you have Lavender and I have no one." She was on the verge of crying, but her eyes were welling up with her tears.

"I had no idea…"

"How many anvil-sized hints do I have to throw at you for you to finally get that idea into your mind? If you can't even notice the things I did, how is it that you were able to notice Lavender?"

"Well, for one thing she asked me out! And she was always blunt about everything, so it was kind of hard not to notice."

"That doesn't even matter anymore, I don't have feelings for you. But Draco was definitely right about one thing: you really are dimwitted and blind."

"Oh, so it's 'Draco' now? Whatever happened to 'Malfoy'?" He took a few steps closer to her and was boring holes into her head.

"I LOST MY MEMORY!" Her patience was quickly gone and she started to yell even louder. "I don't have any prejudices against him, Ronald. I don't even know anything about him. But I do know one thing, ever since I've so-called 'met' him, he's never one called me a Mudblood or said any malice-filled words towards me. Without any previous memories of him, I've gotten to know a side of him that nobody probably has… So I'm sorry if it's a crime to call someone by their first name, but you better bloody well get used to it, because that's what I'm going to be calling him!" Her cheeks were very flushed from her burst of anger that it looked like she had blown up one hundred balloons with air from her lungs.

"Okay, I get it. You're a lovely person and you're not going to treat someone badly who's practically a stranger to you. I understand, but I just don't know why he's acting the way he is towards you. I figured that he would have already hexed you." Ron finally calmed down a bit and took a seat in an armchair and looked intently into the unlit fireplace.

"I don't know what his precise intentions are, but I trust him. I'm going to be around him a lot, so you need to get used to it." She looked at him waiting for some sort of answer, and when he nodded slightly, a smile burst onto her lips. That seemed to be one of the easiest times out of many that Hermione tried pulling Ron out of a bad mood.

She pleaded for the other three to tell her stories about Draco, so she could get some idea of what he was really like. Maybe she could obtain some vital information for blackmail or torture. There always comes a time in someone's life when they are going to be in a difficult situation where it would just be easier to slightly 'threaten' them. This was the moment when she found out the true meaning behind why Ron called him a ferret.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

The rest of the day passed by quickly and with a blink of an eye, Hermione found herself waking up the next morning to sunlight streaking in through her curtains. It was a Sunday and she really wanted to sleep in but the blasted sun was her new wake up call. Grudgingly, she grabbed a towel and made her way into the bathroom and took a warm shower to chase away the sleep in her. She quickly got ready for the day by dressing herself into a pair of gray sweats that are more stylish than the ones she used to own and a green colored beater that reminded her of a lime. After brushing and sweeping her hair into a ponytail, slipping on some running shoes, and brushing her teeth, she made her way down into the common room.

Surprisingly, she was greeted by Draco sitting at the table, all ready for the day and eating his breakfast. After she bid him a good morning, she used her wand to make a bowl of Cocoa Puffs for herself.

As she was preparing to take her first bit, Draco interrupted by asking, "What in the world are you eating?"

"Obviously cereal," she replied before eating her long awaited spoonful of chocolaty goodness.

"And what exactly is cereal and why is your milk turning brown? That's not very appealing if you ask me."

"Cereal is a muggle food that's dry and crunchy and you put it into a bowl with milk, and you eat it with a spoon. It's generally eaten for breakfast, but I like my midnight snack of Chex. And my milk is turning brown because this particular brand I'm eating is made of chocolate which dissolves into the milk."

"I see. And would you mind explaining to me what exactly is Chex?"

She gave a long sigh before placing your spoon down and replying. "Chex is another brand of cereal made out of wheat, rice, or corn and has little holes in them. It's very good."

"Do you eat that with milk also?"

"You can, but I prefer to eat it without milk."

"Okay." And he returned to his porridge and left Hermione a bit dazed and confused about what just happened.

They both finished eating their breakfast and proceeded to clean up. Of course it was all down with just a flick of their wrists.

"So what are you going to do today?" Draco asked.

"Well, usually when I have something bothering me, I like to jog around my neighborhood back home. Since I'm not home I've decided to just do that around the lake," she replied while fixing her messy shoelaces.

"At least you'll be getting some sun, huh?" He said a bit sullen.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about our deal. How about you join me and we just take a walk instead. It's just as good for you as running is."

"Hmm, I don't know. You might just take advantage of me when no one's looking…" His infamous smirk made it's daily appearance.

"I think I'm the one that should be worried about you taking your chance with me. Ron and Harry filled me in with your title around Hogwarts. It's the Slytherin Sex God, isn't it?" She stood up, all ready to head out into the beautiful day.

"Hey, that's not true. Haven't you heard not to believe everything you hear? Even though girls call me by that name, I don't get around like that."

"Okay, I believe you. So do you want to join me or not?"

After he ran up the stairs into his bedroom and changed into more appropriate clothing, they set out towards the grounds of Hogwarts. The two seventh years walked at a reasonable pace around the Black Lake mainly talking about the duties they needed to be worrying about. Hermione suggested that they practice a bit on their dancing for the competition and Draco implied that they still needed to start organizing the Hallowe'en Ball.

All they knew was that it was to be held on October 30th and students from every year would be allowed to attend. They still needed to figure out the main theme and organize the night so chaos wouldn't break out. Draco still wanted to know why Dumbledore insisted the ball being held the night before Hallowe'en, but Hermione told him to just forget about it, that it was no big deal.

When they had fully finished their circle, their legs led them back to the portrait guarding their common room. Until lunch time rolled around, they practiced some of the moves for the dance that they had remembered from the movie. The one thing that they both found out that morning was that beige colored couches aren't a good piece of furniture to have around when trying to prance about a room. Draco tripped over it twice while Hermione managed to fall backwards into it once.

Once they fully mastered 'the dip' and a few turns, they headed to the Great Hall for lunch and sat at their appropriate tables. Hermione still managed to feel out of place sitting with her friends, so she quickly ate her meal and subconsciously made her way to the library. She felt like she needed to get more research done if she was going to somehow get her memory back. There was a feeling in the pit of her stomach that had been bothering her all morning when she had been around Draco. It was an unsettling feeling, but still a comfortable one. She felt as though her heart or soul was trying to tell her brain something about him that she didn't know. Feeling as though she was stupid, she shook that unnecessary thought from her mind and continued through the aisles picking books to read through.

She had once been so engrossed into skimming through the pages, that she didn't notice a shadow walking through the doors.

"I figured I would find you here," said that normal drawling voice.

Her head turned up to see none other than Draco Malfoy standing across the table looking straight at her. He sat down in the same chair he had occupied earlier that day, took a hold of a book, and began skimming through it. Hermione just gazed at him for a few minutes, pondering a few things.

"Draco," he looked back up at her, "why exactly are you helping me? I mean, Ron pointed out earlier that it's out of the ordinary for you to seriously help anyone without any selfish reasoning behind it."

"Like I told the git earlier, I feel bad for making you go through this, so it _is_ the absolute least I could do." He provided her with a shy smile.

She gave him a quick nod, showing that she understood. But something was still tugging in the back of her mind and she just couldn't let it go. She was thinking that there must be another reason as to why he wants to help that he's refusing to tell, but let it slip because after all, she wanted to hurry and get her memory back.

They both returning to the books that they were attending to and continued on with their search. Hours upon hours went by and soon dinner time was upon them as students started past the library out in the corridors. Neither of the two noticed the time and Hermione shut yet another book with a slam, sighed, and placed it in a pile of books they had already looked through.

"This is a hopeless cause, you know? We're never going to find anything…"

"What's this? Hermione Granger giving up? This definitely won't do!" His remark was filled with sarcasm.

"This is not the time for jokes, Malfoy. And for your information, I'm not giving up; I'm just unpretentiously stating a fact that this is somewhat hopeless."

His hands silently made their way to hers and he gently placed them on top, the first sign of some sort of affection, or kindness that she's seen. "Don't lose hope; we'll do this, okay?" Once again she nodded was visibly more relaxed. "How about we put away all the books we've been through, check out some more from Madame Pince, and go back to our common room and have a dinner while we work again."

"Thanks, you're helpful to have around," she replied with a genuine smile.

"No problem. And for future references I think I prefer Draco." He said shyly yet still with great confidence. Hermione just blushed.

They both left the library with about fifteen books in hand and made their way to the common room. Hermione called up Dobby and requested for him to bring some of whatever had been made for dinner so they could eat in the quiet of their private space. The house elf gladly came back with plenty of food and drink for the two to share and they quickly indulged themselves back into their reading.

Another hour or two had already passed by quickly again and the pile of books waiting to be read was down to only three, with Hermione and Draco with one each in their laps. They were about ready to give up when Draco let out a strange noise that was a cross between a squeal and a gasp. Kind of like a low hiccup.

"What, Draco? What is it?" Hermione asked a bit sleepily.

"I think I found it!" He said as his eyebrows rose up and a smile came to his face as he handed the book over for her to read. "It's on the right page about half way down."

And so she began to read…

_**Recordationis Curse**_

_The reasoning behind this certain curse is still unknown. The effects of this happen to be a temporary erasing of a certain person from one's memory. This is not like the Memory charms because the effects are not permanent and the lost memories will eventually return to the person on which the curse has been cast upon._

_It is rumored to have been created by an ancient God thousands of years ago, and is a form of ancient and wandless magic. Certain Healers and Unspeakables from the Ministry believe that the witch or wizard on whom this spell is put upon, had cast the curse on themselves. The person whom had cast it has to hold unbelievable magical powers, but were not aware that they had put themselves in such a predicament._

_There have not been many recorded accounts of this certain curse, therefore not very much is known about it. Healers are still trying to figure out how this curse is initiated because all known accounts in the past have differed in that particular area. Only one thing is certain, that the one who has put the spell on themselves had an extreme hate for the one they erased from their memory._

_Those who have experienced this have come to tell the Ministry that they eventually gained back all knowledge of the forgotten person. It had all started when an event triggered a small memory to instantly come back to them when the said event had been repeated, an event that had happened before memories had been lost. It can be as simple as a certain look at each other. After the first memory came back, certain body contact would later bring back memories at a faster rate. For one couple who had known each other for only two years, it took about half a month to regain full knowledge. For another couple who had known each other for a little over eight years, it took the man about two and a half months. The longer the two people have known each other and the more memories shared between the two, the longer it will take._

_The long term effects of this curse are still unknown, but many think that it had been created just for sheer laughs, in a cruel and twisted way. _

- - - - - - - -

_recordatio_ means recollection or remembrance in Latin


	17. After Thoughts

Sorry about taking so long to update! I have been gone to New York City forawhile and have been busy with boring stuff, like school. But here's the next chapter. Not too long, but now the story will move along quicker. Sad to say that there won't be too many more chapters coming until it's over. Thanks tons to **hpobsessor **for the great work on beta-ing for me! And for the awesome last sentence of the chapter!

Ooo... And has anyone seen the pictures of the girl playing Luna Lovegood in Order of the Pheonix. I have to say she's cute, but not exactly like I imagined. Go to to see pictures of her. I figured her face was less round, but I don't know... Still works for me! Let me know what you think!

**Chapter 17  
After-Thoughts**

Hermione was a bit skeptical about what the book had revealed to her. Surely it wouldn't be a curse if that's all there was to it. It would be more of a practical joke on oneself. What would really be the point if that person would eventually get their memory back? It would just be worse because they would live for a few months without really knowing their past. Who would want that for themselves?

But all she cared about was that soon her memory would come back to her. That's all that mattered, right? She found herself scared at what those memories would reveal. Now that they had found out how to go about retrieving what she wanted, she started thinking about what would happen later on. Would things with Draco go back to how they normally were, or stay the way they were now? Even though she barely knew him, she found that she liked him; as a friend. So far he didn't seem like the type of person to call her names or piss her off to no extent. He was sweet, in his own way.

After they had read the excerpt from the book, they barely talked and Hermione went up to her room. She had been lying in her bed for about an hour now, just thinking. How was it that she was able to cast this spell on herself if she didn't know how to do it? The book mentioned that only someone with extreme magical powers could cast a hidden spell like that. But why? That was one thing that kept on bugging her constantly. Why would someone want to mess with something as precious as memories?

Memories had an effect on people. They shaped someone to be the way they were. That's what her mother had always told her. So she believed it. And now that she had the knowledge that she had missing memories, it had a weird effect on her. She didn't know who she was, entirely, because she had no idea how this boy had affected her life because she had no memories of him. So for the next two months, she had to live with an empty feeling lingering within her.

She was lying stiffly under her covers trying to fall asleep. So what if it was only nine. She was exhausted from all the researching and lack of movement. The next day was Sunday, and she wanted to get up early for a run around the lake. Exercise was the only way to calm her nerves and free her mind of unwanted thoughts. She just wasn't comfortable lying on her back, so she shifted around a lot trying to find the perfect position. She was now lying on her stomach with one arm slipped under her pillow and the other one on top.

Her mind was about to shut down for the night, when she heard a light knock on her door. She had finally found the perfect position to sleep in and she wasn't about to get up. Maybe she would just pretend to be asleep. But then that knock came once again after about a minute.

"Granger, are you sleeping," said Draco in a hushed tone. "Can I come in?"

She didn't want to bothered at the moment, but he had been nice enough to help her all day, so she could at least talk to him. "Yeah, come in."

The door slightly opened and he popped his head in. "If you were trying to sleep, I can just talk to you tomorrow…"

"No, its fine. Come and have a seat and tell me what's on your pretty little mind."

He walked in and sat down next to her on the bed. "Hey, I do not have a little mind, I have a great one!"

"Sure… keep telling yourself that! So, what do you want to talk about?"

"This is really hard for me, but I just wanted to say I'm… I'm… sorry… for all of this."

"But it's not your fault."

"Yes it is. I made you angrier than I ever have before, and to tell you the truth, that's not what I wanted."

"So what did you want?" she asked while her brows furrowed.

"A challenge, I guess. You are the only person who has ever had a comeback for my insults, and they were clever. Witty, that's you. And I just didn't want you to beat me at that game."

"So, it was all a game to you?"

"Like I said, I'm you know… asking for forgiveness. It's just that when you had a father that told you not to give a damn about anyone else, and to be void of any emotions, it's hard to realise what's right in life. Mother was trying to teach me how to feel again, how to recognize when something is bothering me, or when I'm hurting someone. I know it seems stupid, but that's all he wanted out of me: a perfect son. He always told me that when a man feels something, it makes him weaker."

"Oh Gods, I'm sorry…" She truly was sorry. Sorry that he was forced to live with a man like that, he only cared about himself and fed his son lies. Her heart was reaching out to him. She wanted to let him know that she was there for him, so she sat up in bed and gave him a hug. Just a friendly hug, but she could tell he was stiff underneath her arms. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. It's just that my mum always hugged me and it made me feel better. I figured you could use one."

"It's okay. I'm just not used to signs of affection. So am I forgiven?"

"Yeah… It's just that, I think I got another memory back…"

"Well… are you going to spill?"

"It was about you and your dad. I remembered how terrible he treated you, always making you out to be the boy on a leash, handing out orders to you. I'm really sorry, Draco."

"I'm over it, you should be, too."

"Okay, but you know, this still doesn't answer one of my main questions. Why were you so interested in helping me? Why have you been nice to me since we've arrived at Hogwarts? You were supposed to be cruel."

"I guess you could say that I have a grasp on a certain emotion now: guilt. But also on another. Don't know exactly what you would call it, but I'll finally explain it to you. I know you won't remember, but during the summer, we bumped into each other at a muggle dance club. You had asked me then why I was being nice to you, and I only replied saying that I had no clue and got very defensive about it. Well, I was like that because I was trying to deal with the guilt I still had in me about the situation over a year ago. And then you told me to get over myself and that you liked seeing the nice side of me. No one had ever said that to me before. So I figured it would be a good thing for the nice Malfoy to stick around."

"Wow."

They sat there for a few minutes in silence, mainly just thinking over what they had just talked about.

"Draco?"

"Yeah?"

"I know this is going to be very strange, especially since I've never done this before. But Neville and Luna wanted to go into Hogsmeade tomorrow to look around for ideas for decorations, and they wanted me to go to keep an eye on the progress and such. And since I'm going anyway… maybe… you could join me?"

"Well, this is a surprise. Granger getting the nerve to ask me, Malfoy, on a date!"

"Hey, just answer before I take that back!"

"Okay, sounds like a date then."

Draco left to go rest in his own room, and left Hermione to her own mumbling self. Whether Draco and she were getting along or not, and whether they were going on this date or not, she could tell this was going to be a long two months…


End file.
